This week is National Youth Work Week, and we want to take this opportunity to celebrate the positive impact our Youth Workers have on our young people at RE-FRESH, our peer support group for 12-17 year olds affected by cancer and bereavement.

Lou Andrews is CancerCare’s Youth Action Research Officer who has been part of the team since April 2019 and has dedicated her time to ensuring young people in the local area have somewhere to turn.

”If it wasn’t for this group, I would probably never leave my house and I would've dropped out of school…God knows what I would be doing,” said one of RE-FRESH's young people.

“This young person has been coming for around three years, and that is one of the amazing things about this group, we don’t time limit the support. We have supported several young people at risk of expulsion from school and we are creating additional opportunities now for small group discussions on topics of their choice to grow the peer support element of what we offer," said Lou.

Illness or bereavement is experienced differently by everyone and often at RE-FRESH young people say their friends at the group provide them with a different perspective on what they are feeling.

This week our youth workers have some exciting activities planned for the groups including music and meditation activities. Whilst Lou isn't here to enjoy the fun, she has an exciting week in store as she joins youth workers from across Europe at a special training event entitled Sharing Learning from the Past, in Krakow, Poland which is a great opportunity for her and one that I am sure will have many benefits for her work with Re-Fresh.

To find out more about RE-FRESH, click the button below!