Supporting Chloe’s vital Child And Youth Development work in St Mary, Jamaica

Hello all.

On April 16th 2023 I will travel to St Mary, Jamaica to volunteer in the IVHQ (International volunteer HQ) Child And Youth Development project for eight weeks.

Here is what i will be doing

It’s well documented that poverty, dysfunctional family structures and other social challenges can have a long-term impact on the development of young people. With limited resources, time and knowledge there can be little or no support for children and young people who have these kinds of day to day stresses, leading to poor emotional well-being.

The Child and Youth Development project seeks to equip children with the skills to understand, cope with and improve their emotional and physical intelligence and resilience. I and other volunteers will engage students in conversations about well-being, encouraging them to talk about feelings in a way that helps them to understand their own emotions. In a country that stigmatises mental illness, my role as a volunteer is to promote mental health and break down stereotypes.

I will create and deliver workshops and offer one-on-one support to students in order to help them deal with any mental health issues and promote long-term wellness practices. This will include providing support to young people with learning needs, facilitating health workshops, managing behaviour and conflict situations, creating boundaries and supporting young people to express emotions.

Here is where your money will go

For this trip there are a lot of different things to pay for. Please see below a breakdown of these costs:

• Registration fee - £243
• Programme fee - £1857
• Flights - £564.12
• Travel insurance - £214.17
• Criminal background check - £23
• Yellow fever vaccination - £65
• Transport to and from placement each day - £150 total (app)
• 12 hour mandatory online training programme in managing challenging behaviour in Jamaican schools - £154

Any donations made will go towards the programme fee which is paid to IVHQ. This is then spent directly in supporting the community that i will be working in.

It would be absolutely incredible if this amount were to be achieved; If anybody wanted to donate after this amount was reached, I ask that you donate this to one of the many charities in Jamaica that work to empower and educate children and youth:

https://www.helpinghandsjamaica.com/

http://usainbolt.com/foundation/

http://www.cojokids.org/about.html

Here is why you should donate

Any donations will of course hugely help me personally when funding this trip; I am extremely passionate about working with children and young people to help them better understand themselves and their minds and you would be helping me get out there to do so which would mean a lot.
I have a wide range of experience working with children and young people from many different walks of life and I hope to use this experience to continue to support and empower our youth.
For the past year I have been in training and supporting young people in the care system, within 16-18 supported living homes as well as a children’s home. I would like to use the knowledge and skills I have gained to further empower, inspire and care for children and young people who are even less likely to receive this support.

More importantly also, the cost that this is going towards will be spent in making an impact in the project and the local community that I will be working in.
This could be spent on school supplies, medication, activity equipment, clothes, etc.
This means that your money will be supporting a lot of children and adults that do not have the luxuries of wide and growing mental health awareness, high standards of free education and many more day to day privileges that we each take for granted.

Any amount of donation would be awesome and I would greatly appreciate it.
If you can’t donate but still want to help out I’d also really appreciate you sharing this so I can reach more people.

THANK YOU ✌🏽

Chloe.