IS SG THE RIGHT SPACE FOR MY YOUNG PERSON?
Sometimes, Spectrum Gaming isn’t the right place for young people, so we can make the decision that they should not be in our community at this moment in time. However, this is incredibly rare and would only be the case under exceptional circumstances:
If a young person doesn't value community/ doesn’t see benefits of being part of it:
Sometimes, young people join our community because their parents/ carers tell them they have to. This means that they may reject the community and may not currently see value in being a part of it. If this happens, they may frequently upset others/ break rules and this shows that the community isn’t helpful to them until they see how it could be worthwhile to them.
If their skills profile does not fit with our community structure:
Sometimes because of the way we are set up, SG does not work for someone’s individual skills profile. We may need structural changes, or a young person may need supervision from a parent in order for the community to work for them with the current set up. In this case, even with full problem solving and NEST work with a young person, the same issues can sometimes become a barrier over and over again. This means the community may not work for them for now, but could work in the future with more support, if they develop certain skills or if they have more supervision from parents to access the community in a more meaningful way.
We have zero tolerance on bullying, racism, homophobia, transphobia:
We want SG to be a safe space for everyone, so do not accept discrimination of any kind. However we do also understand that young people often make remarks without fully understanding the context or impact of their words. Therefore we do always aim to educate young people about these issues, however they may be removed if we are struggling to support them with these views and it is having a negative impact on their experience and the community itself.
Before anyone is ever removed from Spectrum Gaming:
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We work together with young people to identify the reasons behind their actions and possible solutions to the challenges they are facing
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We contact parents to see if they have ideas we haven't thought of
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We look at whether organisational changes can be made that would improve their experience and that of other young people too.
But in order for our community to work, we have to accept that the community is not always going to work for everyone (though we can try our very best to make it work).