Street Doctors’ aims to tackle youth violence and its consequences by equipping young people with the skills and confidence to provide first aid in emergency situations.
Its network of volunteer nurses, paramedics and doctors train 10,000 young people a year to deliver emergency first aid through schools, youth clubs and community organisations. This training not only saves lives, but also helps young people to understand the physical and psychological impacts of street violence.
Founded in Liverpool in 2008 by medical students, this award-winning charity wants to see an end to street violence affecting young people. It empowers young ‘at risk’ people and gives them the skills to become part of the solution to violence, rather than being seen as part of the problem.
Street Violence is a serious problem affecting young people across the UK. In the UK, possession of and harm done by weapons such as knives continues to rise.
Sadly, reported figures are often just the tip of the iceberg; for every offence, injury or tragic death reported, thousands of young people and their friends, families, and communities are implicated and traumatised both physically and emotionally.
Street Doctors emphasizes the importance of education, empowerment, and prevention in addressing violence and its impact on communities.
StreetDoctors offers three life-saving programmes:
1) StreetDoctors
A peer education model where a network of volunteer healthcare professionals train young people in vital first aid skills such as what to do if someone is bleeding or unconscious. These one-hour sessions take place in schools, prisons, youth offending teams, pupil referral units and boxing gyms.
2) StepWise
Some StreetDoctors participants go on to take part in this 10-session course that is designed for young people who want to take action and improve safety in their community. StepWise participants gain qualifications, work with healthcare professionals and organise their own activity to promote violence reduction and safety in their communities.
3) Young Leaders
An AQA-accredited programme that follows on from StepWise. Young people become community educators, who then go on to train other young people in lifesaving first aid and deliver StreetDoctors sessions in their community.
15-year old Tommy was with his friends when he witnessed a stabbing. He saw a boy staggering from injury and two men run off into a car. One of his friends started filming on a phone, but Tommy offered to help and called the ambulance. He started to apply pressure to the victim’s wound and kept reassuring him he would be okay. Tommy followed the first-aid steps he had learnt at a StreetDoctors session, and the police and paramedics said this might be why the boy is still alive today. Afterwards, he said “I really like helping people.”