Recognising young people’s power: Reflections from the My Ends Community Impact Weekend

My Ends is a London-wide programme funded by the Mayor’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU). It supports partnerships in neighbourhoods most affected by youth violence to design community-led responses, led by those who know their areas best.

Partisan has been part of the Lewisham My Ends consortium for the past two years, working with young people to explore safety and community wellbeing in Lewisham.

The Community Impact Weekend

Last May, Partisan held its first ever Community Impact Weekend in Lewisham, bringing together 24 young people from across the borough alongside staff and collaborators.

The idea came directly from young people's suggestion: to hear directly from young people in order to inform spending decisions and support a hyper-local response to safety in their area. In response, we created a two-day space for young people and My Ends practitioners to connect, share visions for the area, and explore how funding from the Violence Reduction Unit could best support their needs and hopes for safety.

Importantly, the team didn’t show up as professionals with answers, but as people invested in Lewisham, wanting to use their skills to create a space rooted in wellness, creativity and trust. As Joden Joseph, Partisan Community Counsellor and Psychotherapist, reflected:

“Even as practitioners, we wanted to be in and amongst the community — to spend time with young people and collectively generate ideas about how we could spend this funding to increase safety.”

The goal was simple: create enough safety to let young people be themselves.

Key lessons and learning

The weekend went beyond workshops or activities. It was about connection, trust, agency and challenging assumptions. A big part of that atmosphere came from Michael Hamilton, Efficacy CIC and Director of Ubele Initiative — an African-diaspora-led social enterprise focused on sustainable community building. 

Michael led activities with an African-centred approach that grounded the space in heritage and culture, drawing on stories, analogies and traditions that spoke directly to the breadth of the young people’s backgrounds - inviting them to draw on their own, diverse histories and experiences.

He also introduced practices like consent-based decision-making, where young people used a scale of one to ten to express their agreement with an idea. This made space for disagreement without conflict, and helped to “level out power in the room”, said Joden Joseph, Community Counsellor.

Michael also used metaphors like his yam analogy (similar to the iceberg metaphor) — a simple but culturally resonant way of framing collective decision-making that sparked recognition among the group.

As Dr Naima Fowlis, Partisan Clinical and Community Psychologist, reflected:

“One big theme that came through was: how are we communicating and building trust with one another? How are we listening? And how are we going to speak to what we're really here to do, which is talk about Lewisham being safe?”

Michael’s presence brought more than facilitation. It brought affirmation: that young people’s culture, experiences, and identity are central to designing the futures they want, not add-ons.

Young people leading the way

Over the two days, young people drawing on their own experiences created and shared bold ideas about safety. They spoke about the impact of housing insecurity, the need for spaces of belonging and creativity, and the importance of gender equity in shaping safer communities. 

They also expressed a desire for social mobility and access to spaces that often feel out of reach, asking not just to enter those spaces but to feel they belong there.

Through exercises like building safe spaces out of Lego, young people articulated what safety looked like to them — often places of creativity, joy and hope. 

Crucially, the weekend broadened thinking around risk on programmes such as My Ends. Bringing young people from different parts of Lewisham together didn’t create conflict, but rather highlighted opportunities for connection and community cohesion across different areas of Lewisham. Commitments were made to increase not just personal safety, but the safety of each other.

“There was a point where young people really articulated what felt safe, what felt unsafe, and what was safe enough to try. That was meaningful.” Naima Fowlis

“There’s a narrative that young people in Lewisham don’t mix,” said Dr Maria Shittu, My Ends Project Lead and Clinical Psychologist. “But this was proof of how much they already do… and want to in order to create change."

The Impact of the Weekend

For young people, the impact was clear: they felt heard, trusted and empowered to lead. For practitioners, it was a moment of reset — to slow down, to listen, and to be reminded that safety isn’t a checklist but something relational, co-created and deeply cultural.

“We could’ve gone into the weekend saying, how do we reduce violence? But by opening things up, we allowed young people to anchor in their own experience and from there, the solutions came,” said Joden. “Some of the clearest strategy we’ve ever had came from that weekend. And it didn’t come from a document - it came from being in the room.”

The team felt the long-lasting impact of the Weekend long past the event. What became clear is that nurturing relationships, and rethinking how money, time and energy is invested in young people leads to rich, genuine and open conversations and change. 

And since May, the impact of this Weekend has been clear. Partisan has been working closely with some of the young people who attended the weekend to build on the ideas that emerged. Through 1:1,  group sessions,  capacity building and creative workshops the team continues to work alongside the core group of young people to consolidate the ideas into projects that are now being delivered in their communities.  Projects such as…

Young people have identified 7 key areas they believe need further investment and attention in Lewisham to improve safety and will be implementing these throughout Winter 2025 - 2026 - the next stage of the My Ends programme. Stay tuned for more news!

For Media inquiries please contact: Payal Bhavsar payal@partisanuk.org
For inquiries about My Ends please contact: hello@partisanuk.org