Work Experience at Hybrid 3 Studios: The Impact on Young People's Wellbeing

The impact of our work experience on young people's mental health and wellbeing

By Natasha Wood, Workshop Facilitator & Safeguarding Lead (DSL)

"The people in charge of the studio are very nice and welcoming. It is one of the friendliest places I've been in my life"

Over the past year we have hosted over 20 different work experience placements with lots more scheduled for some amazing and ambitious individuals.

(Previous work experience placements)

With varying knowledge of the music industry, they were taught the ins and outs of working in a professional music studio.

This included learning how to maintain the rooms and equipment to high standards; learning to coil cables; keeping everything clean and identifying what each room needs for both recording and rehearsal clients as well as special projects.

One of our work experience placements, Matthew, said: “I learnt that working in the studio required a lot of cleaning up and organisation aside from just recording and singing.” As well as this, Matthew got a unique insight into our marketing strategies and how to maintain and advertise a brand.

Our impact

Work experience is so valuable for us and for the young people we take on. It helps us to continue developing our functionality as a team, as well as improving how we deliver support and education to young people.

It also allows us to forever give a voice to young people so they can speak up, by giving us feedback and sharing new ideas they have about the music industry. All whilst learning transferable key skills. We take pride in how welcoming and supportive our staff are to all who enter our doors, including people on their work experience placements.

As well as learning the day-to-day workings of the studio, young people on their placements also help us with our unique projects including running our youth provision sessions.

Every single one of our work experience placements have done an amazing job supporting these sessions, even if they've found it daunting to begin with. Some of our work experience people even said that they have found it inspiring and gone on to learn a new instrument.

We take a variety of young people on to do work experience including people with SEN (special educational needs). It is our mission here at Hybrid to increase access to creative opportunities. We understand how important it is for people with SEN or mental health struggles to have the same opportunities as everyone else. The effectiveness and benefits of this for a person with SEN can be seen from the case study below.

We are incredibly grateful to the people who have done their work experience placement at Hybrid. We have met some truly talented and inspiring individuals and we are very proud of what they've achieved. We have no doubt that they will turn their enthusiasm to blossoming and fulfilling careers.

Matthew's Case Study

Matthew is a 19 year old who has Autism, OCD and Tourette's syndrome. He struggled with meeting new people in his day-to-day life and would often hide his face as a comfort blanket, afraid he would be judged for being “different”.

Before starting his work experience he was quite anxious. He was truly stepping into a land of the unknown. So, to make him feel more at ease, a team member showed pictures of everyone he was going to work with and explained their role. He also got told about the sessions and what he would be doing roughly each day so he could mentally prepare.

"I have anxiety but during my work experience I felt no anxiety whatsoever"

After an hour of being at Hybrid, Matthew completely stopped hiding his face and started to speak to the team freely and even cracked some jokes. He said he felt comfortable because, “the people in charge of the studio are very nice and welcoming". He said: "It is one of the friendliest places I've been in my life”.

Prior to coming to Hybrid, Matthew struggled with public transport and therefore avoided it at all costs. However, due to his love for music and his determination, he managed to go on a train to and from Hybrid every day with ease and now finds public transport less scary.

Matthew also struggled to touch things on the floor due to his OCD. One of the tasks all of our work experience placements do is tidy up practice rooms including coiling cables that have been on the floor. We offered Matthew some gloves to put on which he used for the first cable. He then felt comfortable enough to try and coil the cable without the gloves and for the rest of the placement he didn't feel like he needed them anymore.

Whilst at Hybrid, Matthew helped support our youth sessions. He was nervous at first but then he started to feel motivated, so much so that it “inspired me to want to learn instruments”. Matthew is now learning how to play keyboard.

Matthew also got a chance to learn some drum beats and sing in our professional music booth which he had never had a go at before and loved it.

(Matthew in the studio)

On the last day, Matthew went to the CCOC (Children's Capital of Culture) convention and faced another challenge he had struggled with: crowds. He did an amazing job and even joined in with some interactive parts of the conference later on. He finished the day by saying he'd love to work at Hybrid when he finishes college.

Matthew achieved so much in his one week of work experience and he can now take the skills he has learnt and use them in daily life. When contacted, one of Matthews teachers said: “He's transformed into a completely different person; we're all proud of him. Couldn't even imagine him entertaining the idea of doing work experience a few years back, let alone all the stuff he's accomplished with you this week. But it's all a credit to Matthew and his determination, he's powered through this year and actively confronted challenges and is pushing through barriers.”

He is still learning how to play keyboard and is currently doing his Arts Award where he's even taught someone else how to play. When we asked Matthew to give his honest feedback of the placement he said this:

“Hybrid is a very good place for music related stuff and the people in charge of the studio are very nice and welcoming. It is one of the friendliest places I've been in my life. Even the bands that showed up were nice too.

There are drums, keyboards, pianos, basses, guitars, amps, and microphones. You can rent a room out to practice an instrument or do some beat making, voice acting and more.

I would give it higher than 5 stars because of its inclusiveness and every staff member there is a respectable person who makes you feel less tense. I have anxiety but during my work experience I felt no anxiety whatsoever so you should spend money at this place.”

Everyone at Hybrid wishes Matthew the best in his future endeavors.