FOR YOUTH PROFESSIONALS · REFERRALS WELCOME

Angling as an Intervention for Young People in Somerset

Delivering alongside SASP & the Somerset Youth Offending Team

DBS-checked coaches, safeguarding-first delivery

1-to-1 and small-group formats, planned per young person

A free, long-term pathway — not a one-off activity

If you work with young people — youth justice, social prescribing, early help, youth work or mental health — angling gives you an intervention that hard-to-reach young people actually turn up for. Here's how referrals into Summerhayes Juniors work.

Make a Referral Enquiry

WHY ANGLING WORKS

An Intervention Disguised as a Day's Fishing

Angling reaches young people other interventions struggle to. It's genuinely exciting enough to get engagement, calm enough to lower defences, and structured enough to build real change: patience, emotional regulation, responsibility, and a trusted adult relationship formed side by side at the water's edge rather than face to face across a desk.

<p>We already deliver angling-based programmes alongside the Somerset Activity & Sports Partnership (SASP) and the Somerset Youth Offending Team, as well as schools and alternative provision across the county. Sessions are planned around each young person — one-to-one where trust needs building, small groups where social skills are the goal — and every session is risk-assessed and delivered by DBS-checked, safeguarding-trained Angling Trust coaches.</p><p>What makes angling different as an intervention is the exit route. A programme doesn't end with a certificate and a goodbye: every young person we work with has a free, permanent pathway into our <a href="/p/junior-angling-club">Wednesday Night Junior Club</a> — a positive peer group, ongoing mentoring and a lifelong hobby, at no cost to them or their family, ever.</p>

WHAT A REFERRAL GETS

Built for Professional Referrers

Everything you need to place a young person with confidence.

🛡️

Safeguarding First

DBS-checked coaches, Angling Trust safeguarding guidance, and policies and risk assessments shared with your safeguarding lead before we start.

🎯

Planned Per Young Person

Format, venue, pace and goals agreed with you — 1-to-1 for trust-building, small groups for social development.

📋

Feedback You Can Use

Attendance and progress feedback to the referrer, in a format that works for your case records.

🌊

A Calm, Neutral Setting

The waterside is neutral ground — no classroom associations, no pressure, and conversation happens naturally.

🔄

A Real Exit Route

Free lifetime access to the Wednesday club — positive peers and ongoing structure after your involvement ends.

💷

No Cost Barrier

Cost never blocks a young person taking part — talk to us about funding and we'll find a way.

THE REFERRAL PROCESS

Three Steps From Referral to the Water

Designed to be light on your time and thorough where it matters.

Get in Touch

Tell us about the young person — age, needs, risks and what you're hoping the intervention achieves. A short call is usually enough.

Plan & Safeguard

We agree format, venue and goals, share safeguarding documentation with your team, and risk-assess everything before the first session.

Deliver & Feed Back

Sessions begin, you receive progress feedback throughout, and the young person keeps their free pathway into the club when the programme ends.

Start a Referral Conversation

Angling intervention session delivered with Somerset youth organisations

TRUSTED DELIVERY PARTNERS

Already Working Across Somerset's Youth Services

This isn't a new idea we're pitching — it's work we already do. Summerhayes Juniors delivers angling programmes alongside some of Somerset's biggest youth organisations, and we're always open to new referral partners who share the goal: giving young people a positive place to belong.

Somerset Activity & Sports Partnership (SASP)

Somerset Youth Offending Team

Schools & alternative provision

Angling Trust ‘Get Fishing’ programme

Partner With Us

FOR REFERRERS

Referral Questions, Answered

The practical questions youth professionals ask before referring.

Any professional working with young people — youth justice, social prescribers, early help teams, youth workers, schools, CAMHS and community organisations. Parents and carers can also get in touch directly.

Young people aged 5–16 who would benefit from a calm, structured outdoor intervention — including those disengaged from education, involved with youth justice, or struggling with anxiety, regulation or confidence. Tell us about the individual and we'll be honest about fit.

All coaches are DBS-checked and safeguarding trained, delivery follows Angling Trust safeguarding guidance, venues and sessions are risk-assessed, and we share our policies with your safeguarding lead before starting.

The essentials: age, relevant needs and risks, any behaviour or safeguarding considerations, and your goals for the intervention. We'll agree information-sharing arrangements with your organisation.

Cost is never the barrier — some delivery is funded through our partnerships and donations, and where a programme needs funding we'll work with you to find it. Talk to us before assuming it's out of reach.

Every young person keeps a free, permanent pathway into our Wednesday Night Junior Club — ongoing structure, positive peers and mentoring long after the formal intervention finishes.

Refer a Young Person

One conversation is all it takes to find out if angling is the right intervention — and cost will never be the reason it doesn't happen.