Quarrel shop

Young people are trained to become Community Peace Champions and leaders in their own communities. This can change their lives.

Leap’s Quarrel Shops offer part-time training courses, volunteering and personal development opportunities for young people often coping with conflict or chaos in their own lives. Uniquely, the training team always includes at least one previous Quarrel Shop participant.

A typical group of 16-21 year old participants might include a mix of young people who have left school early or who have been excluded; with some experiencing issues in dealing with their own anger and aggression; students who want to go on into youth work, social work or mediation. We aim for at least 60% of disadvantaged young people in each cohort.

Over sixty hours, the course uses discussions, games, exercises and role-play to equip the young people with a language of conflict, help them identify what it is, and how it resonates in their lives. They learn mediation, communication and conflict resolution skills and tools and develop group work and team work skills. They gain confidence to run local workshops for peers. The course is designed to be practical, fun and informative, participants learn how to develop their learning so that they can run and facilitate peer training.

All participants gain something from this course. It is fully accredited through Open College Network level 2, and is a progression route to Leap’s Apprenticeship and Young Trainers programmes. The project was short-listed in 2008 for a Philip Lawrence Award for encouraging active citizenship.

Leap currently runs Quarrel Shops in London and in Yorkshire.

To find out more about Quarrel Shops, or discover how you could join one, contact Sandy.

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