About the Project
SportyMentor project is looking for a more participatory process in changing children and young people with challenging behaviours. This includes children/ young people aged between 13 and 19 years old who have behaviours that can be defined as “challenging” once they put them (or those around them) at risk, or leads to a poorer quality of life.
Challenging behaviour can include aggression, self-harm, destructiveness, disruptiveness. Challenging behaviour is often seen in people with health problems that affect communication and the brain, such as learning disabilities.
The idea is to create a model that promotes and ensures children/ young people are listened to in a child-friendly, positive and informal environment. We are working to target children that are both, in community or institutionalized. In France, for example, Members of the Child Protection Commission of CNAPE (National Convention of Associations for Child Protection) estimates that 15-25% of children supported in child protection services are full-time residents in those services. As underlined in national and departmental orientations, it is crucial to avoid that child at the end of the time of their care, come out of facilities without proper support and solutions. Thus, any programme that is destined to reinforce self-confidence, autonomy, capacity to take decisions, capacities to cooperate with others, and pro-social behaviours, is essential for the future of the children, when they’ll come out of the facilities. SportyMentor will support partners to overcome some of these impacts and/or help us increase our mission of organisations’ capacity building.