The objectives of Yellow Brick Road Projects are to advance the lives of young people, young parents, and parents-to-be. We provide support, advice, education, and training designed to improve conditions of living, encourage development of important life skills, increase emotional health and well-being capacity. The end goal of this is to enable these young people to actively participate in society as independent, mature, and responsible individuals.

Young People are generally nominated by services including, but not limited to: Childrens Services through Early Help, Child in Need, or Child Protection plans. Nominations also come from family hostels, Women’s Refuge services, the Family Nurse Partnership, Housing Providers & Local Authorities.

Young families presented have been identified to be suffering from issues such as: Domestic Abuse, Exploitation, Debt, Homelessness, Mental Health, and Parenting concerns. We ask the nominating body or professional to offer their support by completing our forms with the nominee. We want to know about the young person’s strengths, interests, and motivations for participating.

An important part of our programmes is building a trusting relationship with the participant. We have a growing specialist team of workers & volunteers from a diverse range of backgrounds & lived experiences, meaning it is highly likely we can find the right coach for the right individual.

Outcomes Star is the framework assessment toolkit we use, specifically Family Star, My Mind Star & Pathway Star – all of which have areas of life that can be evaluated on a sliding confidence scale. This is done with the young person, prompting conversations that reveal how their life is currently functioning. This initial star reading will create an action plan that is focused on the participants needs and is reviewed at the beginning, middle, and completion of a piece of work.

A participant receives on average 40 weeks support, encompassing 121 coaching, virtual group work and individual progression planning. We work in partnership with other agencies to develop our learners confidence to engage with specialist services including the DWP, and NHS.

Our coaches receive regular supervision and training alongside the checks our Quality Assurance Officer carries out. This ensures that all coaching is in line with both our own standards and Laser Learning’s objectives.

We adhere to very high standards and as a result are recognised by numerous independent bodies such as: Laser Learning Awards, Outcome Star, the High Sheriff’s Award, the Lloyds Bank Foundation, the Charity Excellence Framework. We are also proud to be recognised as a Committed Disability Confident Employer and by the Real Living Wage Foundation.

To deliver our services we are proudly partners with: Test Valley Borough Council, Clarion Housing Group, Clarion Futures, Hampshire County Council’s Children’s Services, Supporting Families Programmes, UpSkillU,  UK Harvest, Finkley Down Farm, Southern Housing Group, Sovereign Housing, Stitch a Logo, Basepoint, and No Limits.