Information for young people
Supporting young people for over 40 years

Informal education, learning based outside of the traditional classroom environment, and vocational ‘hands on’ experience are important elements of what we do at Helm. Our Learning Centres, Helm Autocare garage, Trades Centre and Lavish Lounge beauty salon are environments where young people can gain confidence, skills, qualifications and experience in a real work environment.

Giving young people hands on experience of a job is crucial to them choosing a career and gives them an advantage over peers when applying for jobs. To make sure that young people gain the experience they want, we have partnerships with over 80 employers in Tayside. They offer placements, apprenticeships, employability and give talks and tours on the work environment and employer expectations.

Helm has always run holistic support programmes such as healthy living, and physical and mental health support. We provide breakfast every day to make sure that everyone is well fed and ready to learn. We organise excursions across Tayside and further afield to learn in different environments and broaden horizons. Our art room and Art Therapist provide breathing space and support to deal with the difficulties that life can present. Young people have access to our in house gym and personal fitness instructor. Our allotment provides an opportunity to be outdoors and to understand the initial stages of growing food, starting to make the connection between growing food and healthy living. This in turn leads into young people spending time in our kitchen, making a variety of food for themselves, peers and staff. These sessions give opportunities for young people to gain qualifications in core and employability skills, as well as building confidence, team work and social skills.

We understand that it is not just qualifications and employability skills that young people require to be able to move away from school and into employment and living as an adult.  Hame, our housing project was implemented following feedback from young people that family breakdown and unstable housing was a primary barrier to them sustaining employment. Hame was also our first fully youth led project, an approach that we have been developing ever since.