CYCA ANNUAL REPORT
NOVEMBER 2023/2024
Welcome to CYCA annual report for 2024.
It has been a year of successes in terms of obtaining grants and funding. We are particularly delighted to have been awarded two with a possible extension to five-year funding from the Llanelli GP cluster practices as demands for services for children suffering with anxiety has trebled over the past year.
We would like to thank Lloyd and Whyte for making us their nominated charity of the year and have fundraised for CYCA through various events online. We heavily rely on donations as grants get harder to access and vital services having to end, therefore.
We have welcomed two new trustees to our board Anne Marie Thomas and Paul Jones who will bring a wealth of expertise to our already very experienced Board. I thank Yvonne Rodgers who ends her three-year term of office this year. Yvonne has been dedicated to her role and a true supporter of vulnerable children.
We continue to expand our wellbeing team and have welcomed new counsellors and trainee counsellors to the team. All staff continuously attend new professional training to ensure CYCA offer the most effective and appropriate support to the most vulnerable in our communities.
And finally, my heartfelt thanks to our beneficiaries who put their faith and trust in CYCA staff when they are at their most vulnerable to help guide them through their journey to recovery.
Diolch yn fawr iawn pawb.
Tracy Pike MBE
Chief Executives Report
Chair's Report
This annual report shows clearly why CYCA continues to thrive as a charity. It highlights areas of
need and finds innovative and practical ways to help children, young people, and adults to
improve their lives through effective support. CYCA is a “stepping stone” helper. By giving
people the encouragement, they need to cross the river of doubt and fear that holds them back
from achieving their full potential we see them gain in confidence as demonstrated in many of
the case studies in this year’s report.
Whether CYCA support comes in the form of a mentor, counsellor, trainer or nursery assistant the aim is always to provide a high - quality service based on informed and evidenced practice.
As I end my term of office as Chair, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow trustees and all the CYCA staff and volunteers under the inspirational leadership of Tracy Pike, MBE for their continued dedication and commitment to CYCA and its beneficiaries.
CYCA has enjoyed a successful year of fundraising activities to support and develop services which improve the lives of children, young people, and families.
I would like to thank all the individuals, organisations and volunteers involved. CYCA could not have achieved all you read about in this report without your support.
Diolch yn fawr I chi gyd.
Yvonne Rodgers
Heart Of The Community
Hoc in its 3rd Year of existence and ends in May 2025
Main successes/outcomes are:
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4,433 individuals have reduced emotional poverty by accessing a multi-functional wellbeing hub & online support.
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4,433 have increased wellbeing by accessing/participating in activities to support healthier lifestyles.
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Through direct/indirect support 4,433 have experienced reduced isolation, increased social skills, enabling them to integrate with/contribute to their community.
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The project has created 32 Community Ambassadors.
“I have enjoyed being part of a group in a safe place.” “I am part of a community when I come to CYCA.” “I have made new friends and learnt a lot of information which will help me raise my son.” “I can’t put into words what CYCA have done for me since I joined last summer. I have improved my own mental health and my children and even my husband have joined me on activities. The childcare and transport aspect are so vital to some of use and the staff are so accommodating to our needs. They have supported my son for his ALN diagnosis also, and I can honestly say all our lives have improved since coming here.”
Case Study
When H joined HOC in January 2024, she was unable to speak to anyone in the group or even make eye contact. She depended on her friend and neighbour attending the sessions with her and spoke through them, declining to answer questions or speak within the group setting due to sever lack of confidence and anxiety. Since then, H has completed a non-accredited group Resilience course, an accredited one-to-one Resilience course with a tutor to build up her confidence further, and accredited Child Development and Managing Anxiety courses. Since then, she has not only attended sessions without her friend, but has spoken confidently in group settings, making eye contact and asking questions and even joined a local gym to further her mental health journey. This is something she never thought she would accomplish and has given extremely positive feedback throughout her time in HOC and has just signed up to more courses.
Social Prescribing
SP in its 3rd year, SP has supported 74 families in the past year Nov-23 Nov-24. A further 2 years funding has been secured until 2027.
Main successes/ outcomes are:
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Supporting children who are presenting mild to moderate anxiety and /or depression.
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Working systemically with all family members to help create improved communication and empathy.
In September, CYCA started Bloom, and after schoolgirls craft group for 8- to 16-year-olds. We provide unique crafts activities and refreshments in a safe and welcoming environment for our young girls to socialise with people their age.
The group is facilitated by three qualified counsellors who have an awareness of the needs of the young people to provide support in wellbeing and encourage healthy conversations.
Megan Lewis
Report On Bloom Club
"I look forward coming every week" "I enjoy being here because I can be messy" "I've made loads of new friends" "I can be myself" "I get to make things I wouldn't have been able to in the house" "I love making new crafts" "I've seen her grow in confidence, this is the first place she has been able to come without anxiety and have fun"
Our boy’s youth club has been introduced to support children with confidence building, socialising and managing transition. The group have been encouraged to participate in new activities ranging from pizza making, arts & crafts, boxing, table tennis, and Lego building.
The club is run by Lead Mentor Luke, and Jac a trainee mentor being a positive role model for the boys.
Luke Brown
Report On Boys Club
"I want to come to club everyday!" "I love doing boxing on the pads with Jac." "Table tennis tournament was my favourite part." "I enjoyed making our own pizza wraps."
Case Study 1
We received a referral from for a family from Burry Port GP Surgery, this came in on 22.01.24. During initial contact, Mum said that the child was refusing to go to school and that they had behavioural issues such as lashing out physically. Mum and dad were separated, and dad had moved. They shared custody of the child.
When we met with mum it became evident the depths of the issues within the family. The emerging issues brought to light domestic abuse and that the dad was controlling. Social services were involved with the family. We worked with mum and she set goals for herself that she would like to achieve at the end of the support which was to have a reduction in anxiety due to feeling overwhelmed.
Below is a quote from the mum.
“CYCA were fantastic, supportive, amazed this service is available to people. It’s been a life saver as I was broken. I felt listened to and this enabled me to move forward and set boundaries.”
Case Study 2
My client came to mentoring with the goals of improving self-confidence and emotional expression. My client found it difficult to regulate their emotions and would often become angry very quickly. When asked about how they were feeling, they found it difficult to say or to know. They struggled with self -confidence, as they had a negative self-image and found it difficult to speak their mind. Over our time together, we explored what a typical day looks like and what events occur before an outburst. From this we were able to identify triggers and patterns that caused her to feel overwhelmed.
By breaking things down, we were also able to identify some key feelings that led to emotional overwhelm and confusion. As my client became more aware of themselves, we then looked at how they can express these emotions. As they became more self -assured I noticed their confidence grow. To help their confidence we did identity building activities, that explored their values and self-image.
Halfway through our time together CYCA started bloom, an after-school craft group. I invited my client, as I thought it would aid in growing their confidence. In the group I witnessed my client initiating conversations, trying new crafts, and making new friends. At the end of our mentoring process, my client’s parent commented on how their behaviour at home had massively improved.
They had far less emotional outbursts and were able to communicate how they felt. Their parents also mirrored the resilience skills we use at CYCA, as they had attended our course. This helped continue to improve my client’s well-being at home.
Waterloo Schoolwork
The Waterloo schoolwork project entered its second year, working in partnership with seven local primary schools. Working directly with a key link officer, CYCA supports the schools to assess trauma displayed by children and families.
Over the past year, emerging themes are:
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Anger
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School Avoidance
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Social Isolation
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Anxiety
From the presenting themes, we could identify the emerging issues. The emerging issues became the focus of our work with the children and families.
Main successes:
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30 families have been referred to the project which equates to 127 family members that have been supported during this period.
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8 Lego Therapy sessions completed equating to 24 children.
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6 superhero resilience courses delivered to 200 children and 12 professionals.
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Since April 1st, 2024, 604 individuals have been supported through mentoring, counselling, resilience, Lego therapy, boys club and bloom club.
"The service has been exceptional. We have referred many families to CYCA through the schoolwork project and many families have benefited massively. It has supported us as a school, the pupils and the parents greatly. It has helped us to understand some deeper issues that the family are maybe facing or have in the past so that we are able to support them moving forward." "The service has been well received by the key staff involved. The potential of the service in Year 2 of this collaboration between the school and you as a strategic partner is welcomed. The service to date has been purposeful."
Lego Therapy, in its infancy at CYCA, has had a profound effect on the children we have been supporting.
The support offered has been well received by schools and the HACT data forms state an increase in wellbeing from start to end. An increase in social and emotional has been identified as well as peer support and team building.
Lyndsey Hughes
Report On Lego Therapy
Thrive
Our levelling up funding ended in Dec 2024
54 beneficiaries have benefited from the support
11 have gained employment
26 have done volunteering and placements
The organisations that provided placements were:
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TyCelf
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Goods Shed
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CYCA
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Flying Start
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Stebonheath
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Tiny Totz
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Andreas Flowers
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Mark Skinner
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Llamas (Llanelli Autism Mums)
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Andrew Naylor
"What an amazing volunteer Rylee is! This testimony does not do them justice! We are delighted that CYCA and the Thrive project approached us, and offered Rylee as a volunteer, working with LLAMA as a play and support worker to all our families. Their life experience has been invaluable to our members, and they can work independently knowing exactly what's needed. An asset to any position they've been put in." ~ Placement testimonial LLAMA'S (Llanelli Autism Mams Association) "We are delighted to be working alongside Thrive and being able to welcome Ashley into Tiny Tots. We have been Ashley's confidence grow with every day she comes in. When she first came in, she would not interact with customers at all and was incredibly quiet. She has slowly come out of her shell and is now venturing into the café and giving customers their orders and interacting beautifully." ~ Placement testimonial from Tiny Tots Town Llanelli "I have so many more friends and people I know I can rely on, I used to struggle making friends feeling I’d be judged but I’ve felt nothing but welcomes with CYCA and the chances I get with myself and the family too. I could write a book on how much I appreciate everything and everyone from there." ~ Thrive candidate “I’m so glad I found it. It’s exactly what I’ve been looking to do, it looks amazing. Can’t wait to show the kids the train one day.” ~ Thrive candidate at the Llanelli Railway Trust Goodsshed
Case Study
At the beginning of R’s journey through THRIVE, they were extremely shy and, in their words, “socially petrified of everything”. They wanted to work or volunteer to improve their confidence and mental health but had debilitating anxiety and social anxiety, which affected their ability to attend anything that could help them reach their personal and professional goals. Since joining the THRIVE project, they’ve responded extremely well to the 6-week Improving Confidence course, which supplied important work-based information underpinned with resilience and confidence building. After the course, R felt confident enough to volunteer internally for CYCA with ongoing mentoring support from staff, which led R to volunteer externally, attend networking events and join local groups. Since then, R received one-to-one help creating a CV and has applied for their first paid employment in 5 years, and even attended a face-to-face interview, which in their words “I never thought I would ever do”. R gives extremely positive feedback for her time on THRIVE.
Children in Need
Ended on May 24
CIN Supported 372 children were supported over 3 years.
Main successes/ outcomes are:
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Empowered children and Young People to make wise and safe decisions with their online activities. and be selective of whom they accept as ‘friends. They have also become digitally empathetic realising the impact their online behaviour has on others.
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Reduced anxiety and depression due to being bullied online. Reduced feelings of worthlessness, loss of power, betrayal and stigmatisation as a direct result of online exploration and/or cyberbullying.
Lles Y Bwyd
Over the summer holidays we hosted Lles Y Bwyd sessions with families in the community. Each session provided a hot breakfast and lunch for every child in attendance. With afternoon sessions bringing together children and their parents/carers, giving them the opportunity to learn cooking skills and prepare an evening meal to take home for the family. Lles Y Bwyd brought children together, providing a fun, safe space for children to play and engage in many new activities such as paddle boarding and rock climbing.
Over five weeks, Lles Y Bwyd provided:
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319 breakfasts
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370 lunches
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301 family meals.
"I loved rock climbing and making new friends." ~ Child "I liked playing with the toys." ~ Child "I loved cooking with mommy and daddy." ~ Child "It has helped me to improve my cooking skills." ~ Parent "It has helped me to improve my communication skills." ~ Parent "The project has helped me share play with my child and interact more." ~ Parent "It helped my son with cooking skills and also to eat food that he wouldn't normally try." ~ Parent "We enjoyed playing cooking and walking. The children were busy and I had a bit of a rest. Also we were cooking together so they were happy to participate. In addition the food was delicious and all the volunteers were very caring and pleasant, thank you." ~ Parent
Nurseries
Our nurseries continue to provide high quality free Flying Start childcare within our community.12.5 hours of free childcare are provided each week including additional family play days. Both settings welcomed the relaunch of our Leavers Graduation service since covid, celebrating the achievements and successes of all children who attended Jellitotz and Tedi Bach.
Both settings have successfully completed the FA LA LA Training, with Jellitotz being selected for a 1-1 bespoke training opportunity.
Training and CPD remains paramount to providing high quality childcare and the team have completed a range of mandatory training including:
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Safeguarding Level B
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First Aid
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Food Hygiene
We would like to thank Carmarthenshire County Council for the opportunity to apply for the sustainability grant, both settings were successful in gaining funding to support and develop our settings.
Jellitotz have received their annual CIW inspection, the inspection recognized Jellitotz's continued hard work and quality childcare provision and received a good rating within our report.
Tedi Bach have been selected by Flying Start to be the first pilot Nursery to undertake an exciting initiative Talking Stars a bespoke speech and language scheme which focuses on developing effective means of communication and speech using a tailored approach, to best achieve outcomes for the children we support.
Wellbeing Support
In the past year CYCA have forged a very successful partnership with the way forward centre. As a consequence, five trainee counsellors have received placements two having gained employment with the charity.
All staff have completed additional qualifications to enhance our services, this includes:
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Lego Therapy
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Pace Level 1 and 2
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Parenting Mentalization training
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Trauma Informed level 3
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Mediation.
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Agored Cymru level 3 principles of assessment
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Degree in Early Years Childhood Studies
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Level 3 social media
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IQA Level 4
Agored Cymru
The new Endorsed certificates were launched in 2024 celebrating our long-standing partnership with Agored Cymru. Our Thrive participants Kevin and Tom were the first learners in Wales to have been awarded their Endorsed certification.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Yvonne Rodgers who ends her position of chair after 3 years, Yvonne has brought a wealth of expertise and guidance to CYCA. Diolch yn fawr
Thank you to all of our funders.
