World of Difference Youth Resources
Changing Faces, MACS' partner in the Connecting Communities collaborative in Scotland, launches new resources for youth workers supporting young people with visible differences.
Changing Faces supports people with visible differences, such as a condition, a scar or a mark. The charity has worked alongside MACS as part of the Connecting Communities collaborative in Scotland.
In July 2021, Changing Faces led UK wide research of 1,400 young people between the ages of 7-16 told and found that that:
- Children with a visible difference are more likely than their peers to fear that they might not fit in (33% versus 21%)
- Afraid that they might get bullied (19% versus 9%)
- 1 in 6 (16%) of children with a visible difference say they are too self conscious about the way they look to join new groups.
- Children with a visible difference fear that they might not make new friends (27% versus 20%)
World of Difference Youth Resources
The findings inspired the development of resources to support youth workers and volunteers to better understand and deliver workshops on visible difference to their groups and communities. Activities in the resources will support young people to challenge stereotypes and start to think differently about appearance.
The resources give step-by-step support to anyone who wants to run a workshop with their youth group on challenging stereotypes and thinking differently about appearance and body image.
The training film features two youth workers and a group of young people from Greenock.
Beth Doherty who took part in the film, said:
“As a youth worker with a visible difference, I was so pleased to be part of the project. When I was younger, it would have helped me enormously if more adults had felt equipped to talk about looking different. Together with young people we can create more inclusive environments. You don’t need to have someone with a visible difference or disfigurement in your group, it’s about helping young people to challenge stereotypes and normalising visible differences.”
You can download the free resources and training materials, which support the delivery of the Health and Wellbeing curriculum in Scotland and the development of young people’s mental, emotional, and social wellbeing from the Changing Faces website.
Youth worker Beth Doherty, Changing Faces
