In March 2009 a group of Young Parents in Nuneaton and Bedworth completed a Peer Mentoring Project with Youth Workers from WAYC’s Youth Access Project.

They submitted a Youth Opportunity Fund Application requesting funds to, design, edit and publish a Magazine to support other Young Parents. The magazine was called ‘Beans’ and the strap line was ‘Youth Pregnancy and Parenting’.

Their application was successful and the magazine was completed in November 2009. The young parents involved, planned for ‘Beans’ to be circulated in Nuneaton and Bedworth as a tool for practitioners to use when supporting young parents and as an information resource for young parents to read. On the circulation list were Connexions Centres, Children’s Centres, GP Surgeries, George Elliot Hospital Midwifery team and Health Visitors, ECOS (Education and Care Out of School) and certain schools/colleges.

Beans was also launched at the Respect Yourself Campaign Conference ‘What’s love got to do with it’ and WCVYS’ ‘Speaking Out’ conference; two Young Parents from the group who wrote ‘Beans’ helped deliver workshops to practitioners on how to work with and support young parents, and ‘Beans’ was used as an example of what can be achieved. The Young Parents (Catherine Selby and Liane Cumming) demonstrated how far their confidence had risen as a result of engaging with the project.

Beans has been so well received that the Youth Opportunity Fund have awarded the young parents funding to produce a second edition and the girls have chosen to push the boundaries even further this time round and train other young parents on how to share their experiences and write articles for the magazine.

All those involved in producing ‘Beans’ are extremely proud of what they have achieved, and should be - they created a balance between bringing up a child and developing a support mechanism for their peers, despite how difficult it can be. They are an inspiration to all Young Parents.

If anyone would like a copy of ‘Beans’ magazine, contact Kassie on kassie.woodier@wayc.org.uk, and we all wait in anticipation for Beans 2 due to be published end of Summer/beginning of Autumn 2010!