January can be a tough month for anyone. The festive holidays are over and there isn’t much of anything else to look forward to as the young people return to school or work. It’s a long month, marked by 31 dark and chilly days which make it easy to fall into a slump. According to the NHS, the winter blues, also known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD), is said to affect an estimated two million people living in the UK.  

In conversations with the members at Mary’s, staff often hear about the difficulties of motivating themselves to go out in the cold unless they absolutely must. Many of the older members are studying for their mocks, spending a lot of their time outside of school focused on revising. It’s no surprise that, although Mary’s is considered a central place for members to have a place to go to, there tends to be a dip in attendance during this period. 

As a way to combat the winter blues and give young people things they can look forward to during a stressful time, Mary’s runs a programme called January Joy. For each week of January, staff take youth club members the youth club out on a trip. January Joy is an opportunity for members to try something new, explore a new area of London with their friends, be encouraged by their youth workers and be reminded that winter can still be fun and exciting. This year, they went ice skating at Somerset House, toured the Winter Lights festival at Canary Wharf, immersed in the PwC’s pantomime of Beauty and the Beast, and tried curling at King’s Cross followed by an adventurous Ethiopian dinner at Addis.  

Mary’s had the pleasure of taking a total of twenty youth club members out on these trips, away from school, work, or revising. Here is what a couple of members had to say:

Liana, age 11 said: “I’ve always wanted to learn how to ice skate and the trip with Mary’s gave me the chance to finally try it out. I wasn’t very good, and I slipped a few times, but it was still a fun experience, especially because I was out with my friends.” 

Jay, age 12 said: “My favourite trip was curling because it was something new to try. I had never heard of it before until I saw we could go with the youth club. It ended up being so fun. I think January would be so boring without January Joy.”

When asked about the importance of January Joy, one young person replied: “I think it’s important because you never know what someone is going through.” For the staff at Mary’s, these sessions give them an opportunity to check in with members. They’ll reach out to those they haven’t seen in some time to see if they’d like to go on one of the trips. They’ll also be able to get to know newer members who might have started coming for the first time during the Festive Holiday Programme. On trips, staff aren’t just there to make sure members are participating safely. Emphasis is also given to ensuring young people are genuinely enjoying themselves and that their needs are taken into account. Sessions are thought out to consider ways in which members will have the chance to feel confident, whether it be through trying something for the first time, being in a place they’ve never been before, or just knowing that they’re able to be themselves and feel included at the same time.  

January Joy has truly resembled something akin to a tradition that members look forward to each year and Mary’s hopes to continue delivering this programme for many years to come.