Working with Fidelma Meehan, supported by a team of wonderful Bahá'í friends in Swindon, a programme was developed to help disaffected/vulnerable young people in the wider society. Aware that many young people are beset by a host of fears, worries, anxieties and insecurities along with superficial and discouraging relationships the team developed two special environments/experiences - the Tranquillity Zone and the Discovery Zone - to help them engage in rewarding personal and social behaviour - A host of aberrant, anti-social and various disorders experienced by youngsters were addressed in these two Zones with a programme that revolved around two passages from Bahá'í texts - that 'man is a mine rich in gems of inestimable value' and that all children are 'potentially the light of the world and at the same time its darkness.' In brief, the programme aimed at empowering individuals to transcend their disaffection with spiritual understandings. The programme was welcomed by 27 schools in Swindon, primary and secondary, with their most disaffected youngers identified as needing a novel intervention. A cohort of teachers and learning mentors were trained to deliver the programme. Viv Bartlett's book, Nurturing a Healthy Human Spirit in the Young, outlines this experience.

Born in Cardiff, Viv Bartlett began searching for answers to life’s problems after a tragedy struck, when his 14-year-old younger brother accidently electrocuted himself. Finding answers in religion he became a member of the Bahá’i Faith in 1966. After serving an engineering apprenticeship in ‘Tiger Bay’ Cardiff, he later travelled the world as an engineer in the merchant navy. Returning home, he married (Rita Bridge) in 1970 and gained a B. Ed Honours degree in Education as a mature student. He then taught in secondary education in S Wales.

Viv Bartlett, whilst pioneering in S Wales, served on several national Bahá’i committees until 1976, when he was appointed an Auxiliary Board Member in the UK serving for over 20 years with a special interest in the empowerment of young people. Since then, he has served on the Bahá’i Training Institute for Wales and then on the first elected Bahá’i Council for Wales. He was a Bahá’i representative on the first Interfaith Council for Wales established in 2003 serving until recently. He is a founder member of the Swindon Young People’s Empowerment Programme (SYEP), a programme inspired by Bahá’í Teachings to help vulnerable, disaffected young people. A total of 27 primary and secondary schools have employed this programme.Viv has authored three books, with a fourth in process. His beloved wife, Rita, died of cancer 7 years ago, prior to which they parented three children and were foster carers.