"IYSS were really pleased with how the MAX Conflict staff interacted with our young people. Their whole approach felt safe, and it gave the young people the confidence to come out of their comfort zone and face new challenges in order to prepare them for life experiences. The young people clearly enjoyed the workshop as this was evidenced in the evaluation forms which the young people completed at the end of the workshop. 13 young people completed the evaluations, nine rated the workshop as 10 out of 10, two rated it as 9 out of 10 and two rated it as 8 out of 10. Through the workshop the young people demonstrated that they were able to relate to what was being delivered, this was a clear indication as to how well the workshop was tailored to meet the needs of our young people. A few weeks after the workshop one young person who had attended the workshop spoke to a member of IYSS staff and informed them that another young person had made a negative comment about the colour of her hair. However, she told the member of staff that she had dealt with this in a calm and collective way and felt strong about it. This was excellent feedback as it showed that this young person had taken something away from the MAX Conflict session and used it in a positive way."

On the evaluation form it asked young people to comment on which part of the activity they enjoyed the most and why, here are some of their comments:
"The acting at the end because it was fun and engaging"
"The glasses and role play"
"All of it"
"When we used action for self defence" "The acting, it was funny"
"Where you tell them to go away (role play)" "The role play between Martin and Mark"
Hope this is useful. We will continue to promote MAX Conflict to our colleagues and to external agencies as we believe that the benefits which young people can gain from these workshops are invaluable!

Hi Mark,

Just thought I would let you know Emma came bounding out of school today and said she had walked by two dogs and not been scared. I asked her how she knew and she said usually my heart races really fast but it stayed normal!

She then suggested we invite my friend Jo and her BIG dog to go on a walk!!!

Amazing Thanks

Sian

Hi Mark,

Good to speak to you earlier. Thanks for your work, although he has been released from the Academy I feel your input will be very useful to him despite him not being involved at the football club. At his parent interview when he was released he and his father spoke very highly about your techniques and he was able to use some of the strategies to diffuse situations particularly at school. He said he is able to avoid negative and hostile situations by picturing in advance what the outcome would be. Several staff said there was a noticeable difference in Jamie and he did seem calmer.

Once again thanks for your valued input and I will be in touch regarding the other player I discussed.

Kind regards,

Mike

Hi Mark,

Many thanks for sending these through, it’s great to see a number of people positively moved from the left to the right in terms of the circles / ticks etc. I thought the session was great, and verbatim feedback around the building is certainly really positive. So thank you!

Reference Havening – I’m not sure what you did, but I actually feel a lot calmer. I’ve especially noticed it in the evenings when trying to relax, and have noticed that I’m actually concentrating on what I should be doing instead of perpetually thinking about doom. So….a thousand thanks for that! Really look forward to the next session!