Impact of 1-2-1 sessions at Readipop

1-2-1 Sessions 

Since I’ve been leading music sessions at Readipop I’ve always noticed positive changes within young people from attending regular 1-2-1 & workshop based mentoring sessions where they use music as a creative outlet. Some of our 1-2-1 sessions include lyric writing and recording, music production and instrumental based workshops. 

Our music based mentoring programme runs on a 1-2-1 basis in which young people can creatively learn and communicate in their own way tailored to their needs. Some of the young people who have previously attended sessions will have been excluded from school which potentially results in more social exclusion and exclusion from society. These young people are in need of our support and who are going through various mental health difficulties, some who are in the justice system, some who are from more deprived backgrounds and who struggle to meet basic day to day needs. 

A lot of young people who are excluded from school are more likely to live in care, live in poverty, go to prison as an adult and suffer with mental health issues. Young people with high levels of complex barriers and disengagement struggle to learn in a group or in a school setting. We aim to meet the needs of vulnerable young people through 1-2-1 learning. They attend weekly sessions and we help to support them towards a positive change and future. Our aim is to empower young people and to help to build up their self esteem and confidence.

As a mentor the most important job is to make sure our young people receive the best support who are going through any difficult and challenging times in their lives. This hopefully takes them away for a while from any worries and traumas in their day to day lives. Readipop provides a safe space and relaxed environment for them to be in and with an opportunity to do what they love: expressing themselves in a creative way with the chance to let go of any tensions or bottled up thoughts and emotions by making music.

Young people who attend regular sessions gain new experiences and develop various skills including learning to be patient & resilient, being able to work collaboratively, problem solving, learning to trust and being tolerant around others as well as improving their musical talents. 

A number of our young people have gone on to further education including college and university as well as getting involved with collaborative projects including working with a local theatre production company. We also provide assistance with qualification such as ‘Arts Awards’.

Case Study

One of our young people who was with us for 3 years + started his journey at Readipop shortly after being excluded from school with a lack of direction and focus as well as finding school life difficult and often used destructive coping strategies. He was at high risk and needed a supportive network around him with more focused 1-2-1 attention and he had an interest in music. When he first came down to his sessions he was clearly very music orientated and had already produced a little bit of music at school but as he wasn’t always in, he wasn’t consistently doing this each week. For the first year of attending Readipop sessions he was very quiet but attentive. He had a good ear and I was impressed with his attention to detail as he used to fixate on achieving a good sound and mix with his productions. He started to gain more confidence as time went by and started to talk with the Readipop staff more. He’d often would want us to come and listen to his music and started talking to me more about new music that he’d been listening to over the week. During his time here he got involved with a local theatre production company and he was writing music to script where it was being performed in Reading & Oxford. He also started collaborating with a rapper in the studio where he’d help to engineer his music. Over the lockdown we continued his sessions over ‘Zoom’ where was able to complete a Bronze arts award. He ended up going to Reading college to study music production.

There is often a very similar pattern amongst a lot of young people who first attend sessions by beginning their journeys with a lack of direction and focus and end up leaving feeling more assured and with more experience under their belt. I really love to see positive progression and to help young people through any challenging circumstances as well as helping them to grow and to give them the opportunity to maximise their potentials to succeed.

Written by: Will Davey - Readipop Senior Music Leader