Our Working Values

Our Mission. To support and enable young people in Upton to achieve their full and unique potential - emotional, social, moral and spiritual.

The Village Youth Project is a Christian project seeking to reflect God's love for, and the valuing of, young people. Helpers within the project do not need to be Christian but do need to accept the values upon which the project is based. These are:

• Everyone is special. Every young person is of great and unique worth. Each must be respected even when challenging to work with. We never swear or are aggressive or abusive to young people. Staff are of equal worth and value and young people will be encouraged to respect staff.
• Integrity. We seek to make sure that what we say and what we do match up.
• Commitment. We work hard to help young people to achieve their potential. When the going gets tough we stick in there with them. We seek to ensure that the staff are dedicated to the work they do but do not work too many hours..
• Enabling. We support young people to develop their skills, ability and potential. We don't jump in to do things for others but support them to develop and use their emerging skills.
• Confidentiality. We do not gossip about others or create negative reputations for anyone. If we are told something that may harm a young person we follow the supervision system
• Constructive Criticism. We debate our differences of opinion. We sensitively offer honest advice to help others not to put them down
• Listening. We listen to each other, and don't jump in with our own views before thinking about others. This shows our respect for each other.
• Mutual Encouragement. We seek to find opportunities to praise and encourage young people and fellow workers and we celebrate success
• Rigour. We act and make decisions on what makes a difference to the quality of life of the young person. When necessary we make hard decisions.
• Teamwork. We recognise each other's different skills, experiences and abilities and try to use them to work as a team and to support each other in good and bad times.
• Learning. We are creative and try different ways of doing things. We'll make mistakes but we will learn from them to make sure they don't happen again and without blaming anyone.