YEPS

YEPS is RCTCBC’s Youth Service and offers young people in RCT access to a variety of FREE activities during lunch-time, after-school and through the school holidays.

They also run Youth Club between 5:45pm and 8pm most evenings a week that young people aged 11 to 25 years old can attend.

Who are YEPS?

The Youth Engagement and Participation Service (YEPS) provides the statutory Youth Service for Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council. This service is provided by a workforce of qualified staff made up of school based workers, community based youth workers, specialist youth work teams and skilled part time staff.
Click here to meet our team.

What they do

YEPS offers young people 11-25 access to a variety of FREE activities across a number of schools and youth settings. These include afterschool activities and youth clubs. Youth clubs currently run between 5:45pm and 8pm Monday to Friday. As a young person you can get involved by seeing your YEPS worker in schools, colleges, or via the website.
YEPS provide information, advice and guidance to young people on a one to one basis (referral work) and/or group sessions.

YEPS provision and support is offered through:

School based youth work
16+ specific support
Mental Health & Wellbeing interventions
Homelessness Advice & Guidance
Transitional work into Education, Employment & Training
Rights based sessions
Community based activities including youth clubs, mobile youth van, street based sessions, school holiday trips and community drop ins

The teams

Community and Schools Engagement Team

19 Youth Engagement Officers – 17 based in Each Secondary School and further 2 Community Based, to support young people with Additional Learning needs, and those educated other than at mainstream schools.

Offer One to One support to young people in schools
Support young people referred to YEPS to identify areas of need and develop an action plan to support these areas to increase resilience and young people’s wellbeing.
Support young people to access other services (Barod, Sexual Health and other specialist agencies)
Lunch Time Drop ins in school for advice, guidance and information
After school activities
Issues based projects

Youth Engagement and Progression Officers (YEPO)

4 x community based officers
Provide one to one support for young people aged 16 to 25
Provide one to one support for young people who attend special schools throughout RCT
Provide support to young people who are educated other than at school (EOTAS)
Deliver issue based workshops and information, advice and guidance drop in sessions in colleges
Support is provided in schools, colleges, community venues, street based and home visits
Provide community based projects.  Projects vary based on the needs of the community
Deliver four local youth forums – Equality and Diversity, Community Safety, Mental Health and Environment and Sustainability

Community Youth Offer Coordinators (CYOC)

Each CYOC Takes responsibility for a designated area within Rhondda Cynon Taf and take a lead for the coordination of all of the YEPS programme of activity including:

Youth Work Activities in schools
Transition Programmes
Community based youth work programmes
Youth Club and Street based provision
Club Fusion
School Holiday Programme of activities and trips
The Mobile Youth Van

Keep up to date with all the planned activities in your area on the What’s On section of the website and our social media channels.

Mental Health and Wellbeing Officers

5 x community based officers
Provide one to one support for young people with mental health needs
Support is provided in schools, community venues, street based and home visits
Provide training to young people to educate them on mental health issues
Provide community based projects. Projects vary based on the needs of the community
Support local youth forums with mental health issues including training opportunities, project development
Provide online information to support people

Transitional Support Workers (TSW)

4 x community based officers
Provide tailored support to young people aged 16 to 25 years who are at risk of, or have disengaged from education, employment or training
Provide one to one and group support for travel training
Provide pre-engagement information and guidance to raise levels of motivation, confidence and self esteem
Deliver employability skill projects such as CV writing, interview techniques, team working, etc
Provide support to young people to overcome the barriers they face in accessing education, employment and training opportunities

Digital Development Officer

Looks after YEPS’ website www.yeps.wales providing quality information to young people on a number of topics / online booking system for YEPS activities
Looks after YEPS’ social media platforms – Facebook / Instagram / YouTube communicating all YEPS activities / opportunities to the public.
Looks after YEPS’ app!
Looks at new creative opportunities to engage young people
Works with partners to share key information for services for young people

Communication and Rights Officer

Runs our Youth Editors programme where young people are trained and capture footage of our local activities / youth offer. Promoting the positive work young people in RCT do
Liaises with RCT / schools / community groups to run RCT’s County Youth Forum
Supports the development of RCT’s Member of Youth Parliament
Support the roll out and findings of ‘Make Your Mark’ campaign
Provides opportunities for young people to be aware of their rights
Runs a youth inspector programme to ensure provision is approved / up to standard for young people / provide recommendations for change.

Engagement Support Officers (ESO’S)

Engage with young people aged 11-25
Part time staff who usually work evenings
Cover all areas across RCT.
Support our Full-time staff on YEPS delivery
Work within all sorts of provision including youth clubs, street-based sessions, trips, activities, and projects
Can lead on issue-based sessions when identified young people
Provide young people with information, advice and guidance during face to face work