The Good Shepherd Centre is a Secure , Close Support & Semi-Independent Living Service for vulnerable young people 12 to 17 years of age . Our campus comprises an 18 bed Secure House , a 6 bed Close Support House and a 3 bed Semi-Independent Cottage . Young People are referred to us under the Criminal Justice System and through the Children ’ s Hearing System . Each young person accommodated within the centre needs intensive and / or secure care . The following case study describes a programme implemented by YDance during the changing dynamics of the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown . Gillian Montgomery , Dance Artist at YDance was interviewed for the Case Study , along with a stakeholder who works as a classroom assistant ( anonymous ) at the centre .
The programme in Good Shepherd began on the 14 th of September . The programme runs for six or seven sessions to meet the hours required by SQA for an accredited award . All young people were given the opportunity to take part . However , boys were not keen as the Classroom Assistant conveyed :
I think the boys thought that dance was something only done by girls highlighted by one lad saying , “ he wasn ’ t going to prance about ”. I suppose the benefit of it being an all-girl group was there were no barriers to them taken part and judged by the boys .
Recognising the importance of building relationships with young people , the sessions are staged with a gentle introduction , rather than jumping straight in , as you might in a regular dance class . The Dance Artist reflected on the flexibility required when working in a secure unit setting :
We had three girls in one group and two girls in another group , however they had to be separated because they had just been admitted and Good Shepherd needed to see if they would get on with each other . Having such low numbers makes delivering a session difficult especially given you are quite exposed in dance and the girls felt insecure and vulnerable . Eventually they came together , however the delivery was impacted by several other factors going on in the school , which you must go with .
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