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Young People From Belfast Met Scoop Prestigious National Award
A group of young people from Belfast Met received a top award from HRH The Prince of Wales after developing a ground breaking peer to peer suicide prevention programme that is now being rolled out across the country.
They scooped the prestigious Dell EMC Community Impact Award at the glittering ceremony held at The Palladium in London today. The event was hosted by Fearne Cotton and Phillip Schofield and attended by celebrities including Michael McIntyre, Luke Evans, Danny Dyer, Tinie Tempah, Anne Marie, Maya Jama, Clara Amfo, Kate Garraway and Alfie Deyes.
The Prince’s Trust and TK Maxx & Homesense Awards recognise young people who have succeeded against the odds, improved their chances in life and had a positive impact on their local community.
‘Team 34’, a group of 8 young people took part in The Prince’s Trust Team programme, a 12-week personal development programme for young people to gain new skills, take a qualification and meet new people. As part of the programme the young people developed a peer to peer suicide prevention programme aimed at reducing the local suicide rate which is now being rolled out across Northern Ireland by suicide prevention charity PIPS. In the past year PIPS have delivered the HOPE (Hold On Pain Ends) programme to more than 100 groups of young people reaching over 2500 people.
On winning the Dell EMC Community Impact Award, Laura Gorman from Team 34 said, “We were all shocked when we found out we won, it is brilliant that HOPE has been recognised with this award. I’m so thankful to the Prince’s Trust for all of their support, taking part in the Team programme has created opportunities for me and made me look at life differently.”
“Suicide is a big killer where we live, all of us have been affected by it and want it to stop. That’s why we contacted PIPs to work with them on a programme designed by young people for young people. We had no idea it would take off the way it did, HOPE is now being delivered all over Northern Ireland and helping young people become more resilient and support each other. Winning this award and getting to go to London to collect the award has been an amazing experience.”
Dayne Turbitt, Senior Vice President, Dell EMC commented,
“I am proud to congratulate Team 34 for successfully winning the Community Impact Award. They have demonstrated how working together they can make a positive difference to their community whilst also learning new skills themselves. Well done to the thoroughly deserving team!”
Maya Jama who presented the team’s award said,
“What these young people have achieved is truly remarkable and epitomises what the Team programme is all about; bringing together a shared passion and working as one to benefit those in need. Fantastic.”
Youth charity The Prince's Trust gives young people the skills and confidence to live, learn and earn. Three in four young people helped by The Prince’s Trust move into work, training or education.
TK Maxx and Homesense have been a partner of The Prince’s Trust since 2013 and are one of The Trust’s largest delivery partners of the Get into Retail programme. This is a two to six week course that develops young people’s skills in the retail sector and supports them into positive outcomes in retail. Since the partnership began, over 70% of young people who have taken the course went on to full time employment at TK Maxx or Homesense.
TK Maxx and Homesense are proud to have helped over 1000 young people through the Get into Retail programme.
Homesense supports The Prince’s Trust’s work with vulnerable young people through the Achieve programme, which helps young people aged 13-19 to engage and succeed in education.
Achieve helps vulnerable young people to overcome the barriers holding them back and provides them with the support and skills they need to get their lives back on track. With the support of Homesense associates and customers, vital funds will be raised to help more than 1,500 young people in local communities across the UK to develop the skills and confidence needed to succeed in education, through relevant, engaging and informal learning.
(Left to right) Laura Gorman, Cameron Carson and Laurie McKay members of ‘Team 34’ pictured in Belfast. The group of young people today received the prestigious Dell EMC Community Impact Award from HRH The Prince of Wales at the star-studded Prince’s Trust and TK Maxx & Homesense Awards national final at The Palladium in London.
(Left to right) Maya Jama, Cameron Carson, Laurie McKay, Laura Gorman, Celine Smyth, Nicola Adams OBE and Dayne Turbitt, Senior Vice President UK and Ireland, Dell EMC Enterprise pictured today at the TK Maxx & Homesense Awards national final at The Palladium in London.