The idea for bringing together young people from two very different communities was born from a conversation between Team Leader for Young People’s Services, Paula Powell based in the UK and CAS Coordinator, Sarah Lalaz based in Switzerland. Paula was accompanying Paul Canoville who was visiting Ecolint to talk to students about his struggles with mental health and the impact that racism had upon it. 

 

As both Sarah and Paula work with students between 16-18 years of age and are passionate about providing opportunities for student agency and engagement, they decided to concoct an idea to bring young people together from their respective communities. However, knowing that there were many disparities between the two groups of young people, this idea had to be developed sensitively. 

One of the common themes amongst both sets of young people was football and luckily this is a field in which Paula has numerous contacts!

Merging this theme with the one of mental health – in which Sarah has sufficient expertise – meant that the foundations were formed for the young people to develop and take forward.