About Guiding young minds
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Meet the Team
Our mentors and youth workers have specialist knowledge, expertise and experience and in understanding gang strategies, enabling them to implement programmes aimed at both preventing gang involvement and helping individuals immersed in gang culture.
ANTON
Team leader and mentor
Anton grew up and lives in Coventry and was part of the local gang scene when younger. He founded Guiding Young Minds and is our programme manager and lead mentor.
Anton is an urban specialist consultant in gang culture and serious youth violence and is a motivational and transformational speaker.
As a Gang Exit Strategist, he is a skilled mediator and is also qualified as an expert witness to the courts.
BARBARA
Director
Barbara is by birth a cockney, having been born and spent her early years in West Ham in East London. She went to London university and then moved to the Midlands, now living in Rugby.
Her passion is to help young people move on following disadvantaged and traumatic childhoods.
Qualified as a psychologist and trauma therapist, Barbara oversees and manages Guiding Young Minds, ensuring that it is ethically based, that it safeguards young people and that all work is trauma informed.
SHAUNA
Youth worker
I was a little troublemaker as a kid. Growing up in a white cultural environment where not many people looked like me wasn’t easy for me, and I struggled to find where I could fit in. Sports became my escape and therapy and the gym my safe space. Now a proud mother of 2, I’m all about growth, resilience, and lifting others up. I know what it feels like to overcome, and I’ve learned to turn my past struggles and trauma into fuel for something positive. I am very relatable to young girls who are experiencing hardship and getting in trouble with the law – I want to help if I can.
Priya
Youth worker
Priya lives in Coventry and is a student at Coventry university.
Growing up many of her friends were deeply involved in illegal activity, and she lost several friends to knife crime.
With these memories still fresh, she is committed to helping young people to make better choices in life, and if they are already deep into gang life she wants them to know that there is a way out.
FATIMA
Youth worker and counsellor
Fatima grew up in Europe but now lives in Coventry.
She is a psychology and counselling student and works as a GYM youth worker part time.
She is skilled in helping young people with mental health difficulties. Her goal is to always be there for any young people who face challenges in their lives.
KEVIN
Youth worker and mentor
Kevin lives in Northampton but grew up in Moss Side, Manchester.
He was attracted by what the ‘streets’ had to offer – the money and other nice things. His lifestyle landed him in prison 4 times. He saw friends killed and almost lost his own life.
Now, having turned his life around, Kevin is a GYM mentor and youth worker and is committed to supporting others.
BAYLEIGH
Youth worker
Hi I’m Bayleigh, I’m 24 years of age and come from Coventry. Life was hard becoming an adult – I didn’t really have anyone to turn to or have the right role models growing up. I had a lot of trauma, but I used that to make me the person I am today. I believe in being hands-off so others can speak, be heard, and be empowered – because it’s your body and your voice!
ABDULLAH
Youth worker
I’m Abdul, from Northampton and 18 years old. For much of my teens I have been heavily involved in gangs and drug dealing. Happily, I met a mentor and managed to turn my life around! I now really want to help my generation change.
DYLAN
Youth worker
Hello, I am Dylan, I was involved in drugs and crime as a younger, and I went to jail. This showed me I want to change and better myself, as jail’s a place for no one! I now want to help other kids who look up to criminals as that isn’t the way of life that will help you, it will turn you into a victim of modern day slavery. Just because u see them snapping this luxury lifestyle doesn’t mean it’s a lavish lifestyle behind closed doors…. Believe me.
DWAINE
Youth worker and mentor
My name is Dwaine. I was born and raised in Birmingham, a gang-influenced environment, in a household of domestic violence . I became involved in crime, selling drugs and facing the dangers that came with it. Moving to Northampton, I ran ‘county lines’ in Spring Boroughs, (before it was called C.L). We clashed with rival groups from different cities,counties.
My life changed when I found faith and I turned away from crime to pursue barbering. Within seven years, I opened my own barbershop and for 10 years I have worked with young people from my barber chair.
Now a member of the G.Y.M. TEAM, I’m dedicated to inspiring and guiding young people toward positive change in today’s society.
NATHAN
Youth worker
Meet Nathan, a Coventry Boy aged 24. Growing up in our vibrant community, I understand the challenges and opportunities that youth face today. I’m passionate and dedicated to making a positive impact in the lives of young people in the heart of Coventry. Now on board the GYM team, I want to ensure every voice is heard and valued and to help next generation into a bright future.
With experience in security, he is committed to keeping young people safe.
History of GYM
Guiding Young Minds grew and developed from the charity ASSIST Trauma Care
ASSIST is a specialist therapeutic organisation dedicated to supporting people who have suffered psychological trauma. Anton Noble, who initially worked for ASSIST, grew up in Coventry in the heart of gangland, and knew from experience how it felt to be a young person living in a troubled community.
He quickly recognised that many such young people are traumatised by their experiences, and in 2015 had the vision to create GYM, a service inspired to help them break free from trauma and break away from the path their lives were taking.
Anton Noble created G.Y.M. to help young people trapped in gang activity
Anton was supported in his vision by Barbara Goodfellow, ASSIST psychologist and psychotherapist, and together they aspired to bring mentors and therapists together as one service to support young people trapped in gang activity and so tackle the violence that plagued their communities. And so GYM was born, with the aim to fill the gap that was missing in inner city communities.
A team of specialists helping young people recover from early life trauma and later gang involvement
Guiding Young Minds is at heart therapeutic service which recognises that young people caught up in gangs and knife crime have often experienced adverse childhood events. Our mentors have specialist knowledge, expertise and experience in understanding gang strategies, enabling them to implement programmes aimed at both preventing gang involvement and helping individuals already immersed in gang culture.
Making a positive difference in young lives
GYM is characterised by its unwavering dedication to nurturing and empowering young individuals and making a positive difference in their lives. Since its establishment, GYM has helped over 3,500 young people and their families. The organisation’s commitment to establishing life-altering relationships with vulnerable young people has been highlighted in the Channel 4 documentary:
The daily focus of the GYM team is to help young people avoid gang involvement and/or being caught up in street violence, or, if they are already involved, to support them in finding a way out.
We want to show them that they really are never in too deep to make a change.
Help them see a way out
Your donations hep us helping individuals already immersed in gang culture to get out of it and find a better path.
