WORKSHOP SUMMARY AND PARTICIPANT FEEDBACK



PERCEPTIONS: Intergenerational Event

Background

The purpose of this event was to break down perceptions between young people, middle aged and older people. Police Scotland in partnership with North Lanarkshire Council, Housing Services, Bellshill and Mossend YMCA, North Lanarkshire Council, Community Learning and Development and NHS Lanarkshire, Health Improvement

worked together to agree and deliver an event programme.

Community Learning and Development agreed to identify and invite the young people and middle age and Police Scotland and the YMCA were responsible for arranging the elderly attendees. Police Scotland also organised the key speaker and drama presentation.

Introduction

34 people attended the full day event at the Bellshill and Mossend YMCA, this included 26 participants and 8 partners representing Police Scotland, YMCA, NHSL Health Improvement, NLC Housing, NLC Community Learning and Development. The participants were categorised under 3 age groups;

❖ Young People

12 (9 males and 3 females)

❖ Middle Age

3 (3 females)

❖ Older People

11 (4 males and 7 females)

Music welcomed the participants to the event including hits from each decade from the 1960’s to present day. The walls were decked in photographs of ‘old’ and ‘new’ Bellshill and a range of stereotypical images were projected onto the wall. Posters representing the workshop topics of Anti Social Behaviour, Gender and Stereotypes

were also arranged throughout the room. All these audio and visual inputs contributed to ‘setting the scene’ for the day.

Opening Speakers

Inspector Stewart Hurry - Police Scotland

The intergenerational event was opened by Inspector Stuart Hurry, Police Scotland who welcomed and thanked everyone for attending. He then introduced Alison Clyde who ‘set the scene’ by explaining why intergenerational work, and this kind of local event, is important.

Alison Clyde - Generations Working Together (GWT) National Development Officer

Alison provided some background to GWT which began in 2007 as a direct result of the Scottish Executives strategy ‘All our Futures – Planning for a Scotland with an Ageing Population. GWT is the Scottish Centre for Intergenerational Practice and works with public, private and voluntary sector organisations, to gather and share best practice, provide information and support and develop new opportunities for Intergenerational working in communities.

The development of local networks of organisations, groups and individuals interested in furthering intergenerational work is a key component in the Centre’s strategy. Each local network is organised to meet local needs and is led and supported by Alison and local coordinators.

Drama

Actor: Viv Gee

As an ice-breaker before the workshops Viv Gee performed a stand-up comedy set on stereotypes.

Aim of Drama:

To highlight what we mean by stereotyping and how ridiculous stereotyping can be.

WORKSHOP SUMMARY AND PARTICIPANT FEEDBACK

Three 45 minute workshops were delivered throughout the day;

❖ Anti Social Behaviour

❖ Gender

❖ Stereotypes

Each workshop ran 3 times to allow the participants to attend all 3 topics. People were allocated a workshop number to ensure, where possible, equal representation from each age group. Each workshop covered the following 3 themes;

❖ How we have changed over time

❖ Learned behaviour

❖ Tolerance and understanding

WORKSHOP - Anti-Social Behaviour

Facilitator: Allan Mulholland (Police Scotland)

Workshop Aim: To explore and discuss what is anti-social behaviour, how it is viewed differently and its impact on different age groups.

Participants were requested to provide feedback on their experience of this workshop and 25 made comment on post-it notes.

The majority enjoyed the workshop (22/25) using words like “really enjoyed”, “great”, “really interesting”, “worthwhile” and “informative”. Including;

Really enjoyed this workshop. Hit the mark. Was surprised about the number of knives taken from people in the area. Did not think it was that common (middle age)

I thought it was really interesting. It taught me a lot of things about behaviour and crime (young person)

Police are human. They have emotions like others. They do their jobs as instructed (young person)

Dealt well with the topic and people involved. Keep up the good work (middle age)

Other comments were;

Not enough time to explore it in more detail

Could have been more interactive (young person)

Could have shared knowledge about what used to be mischief is now a criminal activity

Causes of antisocial behaviour perhaps not discussed

WORKSHOP - Gender

Facilitators: Marie Quigley (NLC, Community Learning and Development)

Christine Reid (NHS Lanarkshire, Health Improvement)

Workshop Aim:

To explored the issues of gender in society and how labelling and media images and advertising have affected people’s perceptions of gender roles over the decades.

There were 2 workshop activities, the first included distributing a range of images, past and present, then discussing gender stereotypes and sexism in media images and advertising. The second activity involved asking the group to allocate a list of attributes (written on cardboard) to the male or female baby eg. strong, weak, caring, aggressive etc. This highlighted the ‘weight of expectation’ on children from birth by allocating gender stereotypes.

The discussions generated with the groups were very interesting. Young people and older people all identified the portrayal of gender roles as problematic and detrimental to men and women alike. We were particularly struck by some young men who identified that the labels given to the genders by society and sexist advertising did not reflect their own experiences. The general theme coming from all three workshops was that society had become more equal in that many more opportunities were available to young women now, but that the media and advertising in particular had vested interests in perpetuating outmoded perceptions and stereotypes.

At the end of the workshop, as part of an NHS consultation to address low uptake, the participants were asked their views on breast feeding. Breast feeding was viewed overwhelmingly as a positive experience for the baby as well as convenient and cheap. There was also an awareness not all mums found it easy or comfortable. The issue of a lack of public breast feeding facilities was raised and the older generation felt it wasn’t really encouraged in their time and nursed didn’t have the skills to show them.

WORKSHOP - Steroetypes

Facilitators: Viv Gee (Comedienne)

Laura Robertson (Bellshill and Mossend YMCA)

Workshop Aim:

The group was asked to pair up with someone they didn’t know which resulted in pairs of a different age. The pairs were then tasked with telling their partner one thing they loved, one thing they disliked, one thing they were scared of and an interesting fact about themselves. Then each person had to introduce their partner to the full group and share their likes and dislikes.

This proved to be a great talking point and we had many occasions when young and old were discovering their similarities.

Negative stereotypes were then discussed and written up on the flip chart. This revealed that stereotypes were different from every group and they didn't seem to be set. Different people had different ones but were aware they were using stereotypes. The workshop concluded with everyone writing down a positive thing about them self and put it a container corresponding to their age groups. The negative stereotypes and positive descriptions from all 3 workshop groups were then used as part of the final performance Drama (explained below).

Drama

Actor: Viv Gee

Continuing on the theme of stereotypes, Viv Gee pretends to be a young person then a middle aged person followed by an older person using stereotypical statements provided by participants in the stereotypes workshops. Viv instructs the audience to shout out "should've said" when she uses a negative stereotype. When the audience shout this out Viv then reads out a positive statement, relevant to each age group, provided by participants in the stereotypes workshops.

Aim of Drama:

To show that everyone is different and stereotypes are not as present in the different age groups as we may think.

‘Question Time’ Panel

The days event concluded with a question and answer session. The panel members included Police Scotland, YMCA, NHSL Health Improvement, NLC Housing, NLC Community Learning and Development. The questions included;

❖ How did you get into the jobs you are in

❖ What is the best job you have ever had

❖ Where is the new Bellshill skate park to be located

Each panel member shared their experiences of getting into their current job and their favourite work with the audience. The third question provided an opportunity to discuss the current consultation on the location of the skate park and to spread the word to encourage young people to come along to the next consultation meeting to have their say about their skate park.

Police Scotland asked the audience if they found the event worthwhile and would they attend a similar event. The response was positive and so the panel agreed to organise another event and would consult with them about future topics.

Participant Feedback and Evaluation

Using a ‘grafitti wall’ the participants were asked to make comments or suggestions, on 2 issues, using post it notes on the graffiti wall. The 2 questions were;

❖ How has today changed your perceptions of each other

❖ What changes would you like to see in your area/community

Responses to ‘How has today changed your perceptions of each other’

23 comments were posted on this ‘wall’ and were made up of 13 responses from young people, 5 middle age and 5 from older people.

❖ Feedback from Young People

The majority of the comments from young people (10/13) were about having a better understanding of each other;

Better understanding of what others like

What grown up people think of young people

More alike than I thought

I was so much alike my partner

Better understanding of what older people like

More alike than different

My perceptions have changed a little bit about genders and how people are sexist

Better understanding of old and middle aged people

I know how different the years are from then and now

Everyone is different than the same

Other comments were;

I have changed my perspective about breast feeding

A freedom of choice x 2

❖ Feedback from Middle Age

Two out of the five comments referred to better understanding of different age groups and the other 3 comments described a more specific experience;

Better understanding of different age groups

Confirmed age is only a number

The other participants made reference to ‘opening up’ and barriers

For the better great to see everyone opening up

There should be no barriers

Reinforce modern message gender/age no barriers.

❖ Feedback from Older People

The majority of comments (4/5) made reference to a better understanding of young people;

Enjoyed listening to young people

Good impression of the teenagers

Good impression of the young generation

Tolerance of youth improved

The final comment made reference to gender stereotypes;

Should children be lumbered with labels of expectation ???

Responses to ‘What changes would you like to see in your area/community’

22 comments were posted on this ‘wall’ and were made up of 11 responses from young people, 8 from middle age and 3 from older people.

❖ Feedback from Young People

The majority of the comments from young people (9/11) were about having more things to do and places to go;

More places to go

More interesting things here

More places to hang about

More areas to socialise

More choices

More opportunities to try things

Opportunities for younger generation

A few were more specific;

Get recording studios in Bellshill

More areas to practice sport

Other comments were;

More breastfeeding for healthier babies

All yobos removed

❖ Feedback from Middle Age

Eight comments were posted and ranged from more facilities, events and information to specific actions;

A Bellshill ‘what’s on’ newsletter

Gala Days

More multigenerational activities and events

Community spirit

More community facilities

Better partnership working

More specific suggestions were;

Positive message that breast is best

Planters removed from James Dempsey Way so the young people can play sports

❖ Feedback from Older People

Three people from this age group provided feedback;

More community activities

More shops and clean buses

Grass cut more

What Happens Now

We will take responsibility to share this report and participant feedback with relevant groups within our organisations and request they consider the participant feedback and address issues where possible

We agreed to plan a future event within the next year.

Ensure time of future events suits the middle age group which was underrepresented due to work commitments.

Consult with participants on future topics

Ensure local service providers are included in future planning eg. Orbiston Neighbourhood Centre

This report was produced by Christine Reid, NHSL Health Improvement Senior on behalf of the Bellshill Intergenerational Event Planning Group, July 2013.

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“It was very useful information. Made me change my life in some ways”

- young persons comments on antisocial behaviour workshop

“Confirmed age is only a number”

- middle age participant

“Good impression of the young generation”

- older participant

“To start with I thought the police were just out to stop people having fun but now I understand. The workshop was really good”

- young person commenting on antisocial behaviour workshop

“Should children be lumbered with labels of expectation???”

- Older person on gender stereotyping

“I was so much like my (workshop) partner”

- young person on interacting with older person

For the better, great to see everyone opening up

- feedback on event from older person

“More events like this. Important for people to share their knowledge and understanding”

- middle age comments on antisocial behaviour workshop

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