Chief Executive's Blog

Mike, as Acting Chief Executive, looks at how the agency can develop new areas of work to meet the needs of young people and develop new services. He does this by engaging with funders, commissioners and partners locally, regionally and nationally. Mike ensures that The Zone’s name is known for delivering quality services that support the needs of young people, and he raises issues with other agencies about their continuing needs; he makes sure their voice is heard by the people who can make a difference to services for young people.

Blog Update 12.12.11 - Mike's Blog

Hi everyone

You will know that Ruth Marriott has now moved on to another job after 12 years at The Zone. I would like to introduce myself and let you know what is happening here to fill Ruth’s post. I have been asked to take over as Acting Chief Executive while the Board of Trustees appoints a new Chief Executive Officer.

My name is Mike Jelly and my background is in youth work and education. I know Plymouth well after working here for the last 10 years. I know some of the things that you tell us you need, to support you in working things out when you face difficult times. I have already talked with lots of young people who use our services and read your comments on the website. I am really impressed with The Zone and the things it is able to offer. I am also impressed with the way that you use us and what it does for you in your own lives. There are brilliant staff and volunteers here and my role is to make sure the voice of The Zone (that’s yours) is heard around Plymouth.

I want to make sure we keep looking at new ideas and services and intend to follow on with lots of the work Ruth was doing. I want to make sure we are able to continue doing a great job in supporting and empowering you.

Before Christmas there will be interviews for a new Chief Executive Officer for The Zone. We have asked a group of young people to interview the candidates as part of a two day interview process. We will listen carefully to what young people tell us about the candidates and this will help us to make a decision on the right person.

If you have any ideas or questions you would like to put to the candidates, please let us know through the website.

I look forward to working with you over the next few months and know I’ll meet many of you during this time.

Blog Update 4.11.11 -  Ruth’s Farewell

HI All

This is the last blog I will ever do at The Zone. After almost 12 years, I am moving on to become the Area manager for South West and Western Core Children’s Services. Plymouth will still be my office base, so no doubt I will still see some of you in the future; I do hope so anyway. Mike jelly will be Acting Chief Executive, and I know will do a great job until a new Chief Executive is appointed.

I would like to take this opportunity, to say A MASSIVE Thank you to the young people I have worked with and come across in my role; Mount Wise Youth Forum, individual young carers, young people linked to Insight, Icebreak, Life , group work and other projects over the years. I have some wonderful memories of madly agreeing to help out on a Wild Camp on Dartmoor ( I don’t do mud! ) but having a great time listening to young people talking about their lives, hopes and dreams and having a laugh. Of picking up the group who last went on the sailing residential because the ship they were on had it’s wooden mast snapped in half. When I got to Weymouth they were in fine spirits, helping out , talking to other ship people (don’t know the technical terms), mucking in sharing stories and experiences and instead of feeling cheated that they had not been able to complete their trip, were happy, thankful for the time they had had, and couldn’t wait for another opportunity.

It is a pretty tough time for young people at the moment; few job’s little money, greater dependency on families and needing to stay at home longer than perhaps some might or for those feeling the pressure that they have to leave because it’s a tough time for their family at the moment too and they cannot afford to keep them at home. It will get better –and that might not help now but I know that you show time and time again how resilient you are in the face of some terrible things that happen to you, and I am very thankful for the opportunity you have given me to get to know you and work with you to make things better in some small way.

The Zone will continue to be an amazing place because of the young people who we work with, the staff who care about how young people’s lives are and how they can work with them to improve them, and the funders who ensure that we can continue to collectively make a difference by giving us the money to do so.

Thank you.

Blog Update 26.06.11

This has been a very busy period for us all at The Zone. I have been looking at a number of new service options and staff are working very hard to be able to meet the needs of young people. We have noticed a significant increase in the number of young people who want to access our services, particularly in relation to support around emotional distress and mental health. Both the Counselling and Icebreak teams have waiting lists. We wish this was not the case, as we know that if young people cannot access services as soon as possible, there is a likelihood that they may not engage at all, as they cannot get a service when they want it. We are continually talking with those who commission/fund our services so that they are aware of the unmet need and I know that there are on-going talks about how services can be improved across the city. We are ensuring that young people’s voice is heard in strategic meetings.

It is not surprising that in times of stress, a lack of employment opportunities and young people being more aware of financial stress on their parents and families, that we are seeing more young people needing support. As a street level agency we know we are likely to see the impacts of concerns first.

The Zone is continuing to look for new ways to support young people and make sure our services meet young people’s needs. Our community project at Mount Wise and Group Work service are particularly keen to work with young people on finding out how they would like to see services develop and ensuring young people have their say in our organisation. At the moment, we are focussing on how we can enable young people who use our services and those who don’t to get involved and have their say. If you would like to become more involved in what we do and how we do it, please contact me via the webpage.

This week we will be holding our annual summer party to thank all our volunteers who come in and give their time to support young people.

More next week on what we are doing and issues that affect young people.

Blog Update 17.01.11

Happy New Year to you all! This one is likely to be a very challenging year for us all; young people, families, workers, projects, agencies. We will strive to give an excellent service and support young people in the best ways possible.

This year is already a very exciting one for us, as we have had a very generous benefactor who has purchased Lopwell Barn next to Lopwell Dam near Dartmoor (click to see location), for us to develop and use as a residential space to work with young people. 

For information on how to Rent the barn call 01752 206626 - Keep checking back for updates!

Check out the photographs in our Zone Gallery.

We will also be able to rent it out to groups, schools and the community for their use. It’s an excellent place for us to carry out our outdoor activities program, offering a whole new range of outdoor opportunities and the chance to stay overnight and experience being away from the city centre for a while. We will keep you posted on our website as to when is ready and how you can book to use the space.

Let’s hope this year continues to be just as exciting.

Blog up date: 26.10.10

The last few weeks have been very busy, particularly going to schools to raise awareness of our services. It is important to meet regularly, face-to-face to ensure schools are aware of the huge range of services we provide and how they can work with us. For example, our great range and programmes for challenging outdoor activities. (click here to find out more)

This month I have also been to a scrutiny meeting to let councillors know the work we are doing with Young Carers. I met with some of the Young Carers recently to talk with them about a bid we could jointly develop for the Big Lottery under the Youth in Focus programme. This would be a partnership bid with PlymYouth and the 16+ team, as well as other partners. They came up with some great ideas and ways we could develop a project together. Hopefully, in the future, we can share more about this development if our bid is successful. Care Leavers are also keen to work together on a bid. The young people are really keen to be on the Steering groups and help to manage the development and delivery if we get the funding.

We have recently launched a joint promotion with The Herald called ‘The 15 minute shout’.  We want to find out the views 12-21 year olds in Plymouth have on a range of issues. The idea is to show how thoughtful young people are, what opinions they have and to promote a positive image of thoughts on issues that matter to young people today.

Welcome (13.09.10)

Welcome to our new look website. I hope you find it useful and interesting. We have worked with young people to design a site that we think will be youth friendly, helpful and interesting. We welcome you to have your say on how we can continue to improve it.

This year, The Zone celebrates 20 years of delivering quality services to meet the needs of young people. We wanted to celebrate this with staff, young people, volunteers and colleagues from other agencies across the city.

To see more see of what happened on the day see our section on the '20 Years celebration' in about us - news and events.