A springboard for my concept...Precedents

"I want, by understanding myself, to understand others. I want to be all that I am capable of becoming."
- Katherine Mansfield

In order to design, monitor and further the development of a life skills program, concurrent, reflective and continual research is needed. The pre-construction research phase of such organizations is heavy and long winded. This is of utmost importance because the original funding (in the case of a community funded facility) is blind capital raising which cannot be supported by any physical building or precedent initially.

In the case of this design, there are two fantastic facilities that can be used as a springboard for concept exploration and effectively "selling" the idea, not to mention a wealth of research information to learn and grow from.
The research undertaken at The Friendship Circle in West Bloomfield, Michigan and The CREATE Centre, Bristol, London are just two sources which allow continual evaluation of facilities and hence, further development targeting the user's needs.

Click here for Video about Detroit facility

Accident prevention in the UK
The Health of the Nation white paper established accident prevention as a Key Area. This
priority continued in the more recent Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation which set a target to
reduce the death rates from accidents by at least one fifth and to reduce the rate of serious injury from accidents by at least one tenth by 2010.

"Accidents are the commonest cause of death in children under 15 years and every year accidents also leave many thousands permanently disabled or disfigured. Each year in the UK about 600 children die in accidents and 10,000 are left with disabilities. Around half of all accidental deaths of children under 15 involve a motor vehicle whilst other main causes include drowning, fire, suffocation and falls, many of which happen in the home. Further, around 1.2 million children are injured outside their homes each year in parks, fairs, playgrounds, on the street, using sports facilities and in educational settings. Accidents disproportionately affect children in deprived communities, especially those living in temporary accommodation. "

Methodology - A Village
"Traditionally, mass media health education interventions have disseminated information to the public via public broadcasts, posters and written leaflets. With time, it has become apparent that knowledge by itself is rarely sufficient to change behaviour. A person must also want to change, acquire the skills to do so and have the confidence to use these skills. Not surprisingly therefore, interventions addressing this range of skills are more successful than interventions focusing on knowledge alone."

Source: http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr187.htm
RR187 - An evaluation of the Lifeskills - Learning for Living programme