Targeted youth support: redesigning services - building on best practice to support young people with problems in behaviour and mental wellbeing
| Provider | Training and Development Agency |
|---|---|
| Topics | Targeted youth support |
| Type | Emerging practice |
| Date | December 2006 |
| Region | North East |
Issue
Although there were many good examples of collaboration in South Tyneside, its effectiveness was limited. Agencies and others bodies were not making all the links necessary to provide really comprehensive support for young people. For example, there were difficulties linking schools, health, child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and social care.
Background
Examples of good existing collaboration in South Tyneside included:
- The South Tyneside Early Prevention Panel (STEPP) the local model of the
youth inclusion and support panel
- Matrix the local substance misuse service
- CAMHS working with educational psychology services and the behaviour improvement programme (BIP) in schools to develop tier 1 and 2 services in the area
Actions prompted by TYS
The targeted youth support (TYS) change process identified a number of examples of good and not so good practice in existing services. Although there were effective collaborations (see above examples), they were not communicating and working with each.
A TYS change team was created to improve integrated working. The team brought together staff from the youth service, Connexions, youth offending service, substance misuse, looked after children, children with disabilities, Sure Start, CAMHS, the children's fund, the behaviour improvement programme, schools and staff involved with the common assessment framework, the lead professional and information sharing.
The change team agreed that the best way to start the process of improving integrated working was to build on local successful multi-agency panels and service self-assessment tools. The team then looked at examples from other authorities, including beacon areas for early intervention such as Telford and York, and other early intervention pathfinders, to see if there was any further good practice they could integrate into their new models.
Benefits and results
The TYS pathfinder identified a number of gaps in the current system, such as the minimal engagement of CAMHS, health staff, schools and the behaviour improvment programme in STEPP and in Matrix assessments and panels. This awareness is leading to more effective collaboration between staff in these agencies.
The authority is bringing together the individual collaborations into a comprehensive multi-agency panel and linking this development to work going on around the common assessment framework and the lead professional. Plans are being drawn up to allow people to access the new panel by self-referral or via the panels, through proactive identification and targeted support.
We're just starting to understand the investment needed to provide an
integrated approach to prevention. TYS is helping us to achieve this
integration by breaking down the demarcation between universal and specialist
services
Phil Bennett, youth offending team and TYS change team manager
The local authority
South Tyneside is an urban deprived metropolitan borough authority. Its statistical neighbours include Sunderland, Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, Salford, Sheffield, Portsmouth, Tameside, Stoke on Trent and Blackpool.
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Targeted youth support: redesigning services - building on best practice to support young people with problems in behaviour and mental wellbeing
