Minehead Eye: I can do anything

West Somerset is one of the most deprived areas in the country and one of the most isolated. There is one secondary school. No Alternative or SEND Provision. And if a young person falls out of the education system here, there is almost nothing to catch them. The nearest 16+ colleges are an hour and a half away by bus. For a teenager already struggling, that distance might as well be a wall.

Minehead Eye was founded to support young people in West Somerset. Operating from a multi-million pound community centre and skate park in Minehead, the team runs seven youth clubs, young carers groups, supports young people with SEND, and partners closely with schools and parish councils across the area. Knowing you’ve got to go to where young people are, and not wait for them to come to you (particularly when buses and transport aren’t available), the team takes its work out. Holding outreach sessions and events like Battle of the Bands in communities that otherwise wouldn’t be able to access them.

Minehead Eye’s tagline is simple: I Can Do Anything. It’s a direct challenge to the low expectations that West Somerset’s young people absorb and a statement every young person deserves to hear.

Before their connection to the Somerset Youth Alliance, Minehead Eye was delivering all of this from a position of professional isolation. Doing vital work, but reactive rather than proactive, they were responding to what came through the door rather than being able to see, and plan around, the full picture of need across the county.

The Alliance’s training offer has been the most significant benefit and Minehead Eye now has a team of 12-15 qualified youth workers. Most recently Richard and Albert completed their youth work qualifications, and what that has unlocked is significant. Albert is now working one-to-one in schools, running Minehead Eye’s own programmes on resilience and anger management. Young people connect with him naturally. Schools value the quality he brings. The training gave him the confidence to step fully into the role. Richard has addressed the lack of Alternative Provision in West Somerset. Offering one-to-one support for some of the highest-risk young people in the area Richard has a solid and growing caseload of regular pupils referred by schools who trust what Minehead Eye can offer. “Once they’re out of school, these young people will be in their bedrooms and checking out,” says Paul “That’s why Richard is here.”

Alliance membership has changed not just what Minehead Eye can do, but how it is seen and how it sees itself. Paul describes the shift in how he introduces the organisation now: not just as Minehead Eye, but as part of a county-wide professional network. “They don’t treat us as just someone down the road,” he says. “This has given us professional kudos.” Crucially, the Alliance has enabled Minehead Eye to move from reactive to proactive identifying county-wide gaps, and working with organisations sharing the same mindset and geographical boundaries, In the Mix and Youth Unlimited, and contributing to a sector that is increasingly visible and valued.

The ripple effect reaches into communities too. With Minehead Town Council now partnering with Minehead Eye in a move from contracting, deepening the relationship that reflects how the organisation’s standing has grown. And then there are the individual families: parents who have seen their child go from too anxious to leave the house to volunteering. Now mum champions Minehead Eye to anyone who’ll listen.

That network has also provided practical support at the moments that matter most. When the Exmoor crash brought bereavement into the communities Minehead Eye serves, the team was able to access support for the specialist training supporting their youth workers, and through them, the young people and families affected.

And as for the future of the Alliance  “When the stars align…” he says “you can do anything.”