Lucas’s Story
Lucas is a young person with a big love for football, travelling and discovering new cultures. At school, his favourite subject is media studies. He dreams of combining football and media one day, perhaps through sports filming or reporting.
Like many young people, Lucas carries both energy and curiosity, alongside feelings that can sometimes feel overwhelming.
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Finding His Way to Support
Lucas was referred to hyh’s mediation service by his school after his relationship with his father broke down. This led to physical and verbal conflict at home. At the same time, Lucas was struggling to cope with his parents’ separation. Feelings of anger and frustration built up, spilling into school life and affecting his relationship with his mother and younger sibling.
It became clear during mediation that Lucas would benefit from one-to-one wellbeing support alongside mediation. The aim was not to “fix” Lucas’ family situation, but to give him space to understand what was going on inside and find safer ways to cope.
Opening Up and Building New Skills
At first, Lucas found it hard to open up and trust took time. With the support of his wellbeing worker, tools such as the ‘Talking Teen Cards’ helped him talk about his life and feelings in a way that felt manageable. Together, they explored Lucas’ anger triggers and where his strong reactions came from.
Lucas began learning healthier ways to release anger and frustration, including boxing and going to the gym. He also worked on his communication, especially listening and being honest about how he felt. This was not easy for Lucas. Previously, when emotions stayed bottled up, conversations at home sometimes escalated, and his mum felt frightened and unsure how to keep things safe.
Additionally, we worked with Lucas to manage his reactions to things that were said. Using tools like the ‘What Is in My Control?’ tool, he learned to pause, reflect and respond rather than react.
Moving Forward with Hope
By the end of the 12 sessions, Lucas recognised that while he could not control his parents’ relationship, he could shape how he communicated with them. He understood that holding his emotions inside made him behave in a way that resulted in harm. Lucas took responsibility for his actions and left with practical tools, stronger relationships and a renewed sense of hope about his future.
Lucas’ journey shows how crucial a calm, non-judgemental, one-to-one space was to enable him to engage effectively with mediation and restore his family relationships.