COMMUNITY IMPACT
Programmes and Initiatives – What We Do
The full list of What We Do can be found here, but at our core we focus on three main areas: advice, youth, and children and families work, all underpinned and driven by the church community.
Our advice work is based mainly at our Oasis Centre, a drop-in community space open all day Monday-Friday. We support our community in a range of ways – everything from specialist advice in debt, immigration, housing and benefits to a community fridge, offering free food from local suppliers.
Our youth work team work closely with all our local schools but particularly the students with Oasis Academy South Bank Secondary, providing a range of therapeutic, developmental, fun and safe programmes for young people aged 10-25 including sports, mentoring, youth clubs, trips, therapy, and gender-based activities.
Our children and families team work mainly with the pupils at Oasis Academy South Bank Primary and their parents/carers, supporting families to improve their wellbeing, and offering free weekly activities and sessions at a few local venues.
At the heart of all this is our Oasis Church Waterloo community, which meets on Sundays at 11am and throughout the week, and strives to create a community where everyone can feel included, know that they can contribute, and realise a deep sense of belonging.
AMIR’S STORY
“I started mentoring with Jordan (one of our youth workers) in Year 10 because I was getting into trouble at school, arguments at home with my mum and also being in the wrong places with the wrong people outside of school.
I’ve been able to talk about everything with Jordan and I don’t feel like I am being judged. I have been able to reflect on things that make me angry or sad and usually I’ll just ignore those feelings. It’s been good to have someone to help me understand these situations and also to set goals and targets that help me to get in trouble less.
I think the most important thing is now I understand myself a lot more. I am still working on my emotional responses to difficult situations but I feel like I understand what triggers me more now than I did before.
I am proud that I am able to think before acting more. I’ve gotten in less trouble at school recently as well. But mostly, I have joined the Oasis under-16s football team and being a part of that team is something I am proud of because I have never been on a team before.
I think being able to understand myself more will help me in the future because I will become less angry and make fewer bad decisions through my anger. I am hoping that I will keep focusing on football and my studies so that I can achieve my goals when I leave school.”