My youth work story - how this mixed up kid found a purpose

For the last few days, as part of Youth Work Week in Wales, we in @YJBCymru have been sharing quotes from youth workers in youth justice services. We wanted to show how youth workers make a difference to the lives of some of our most vulnerable children.

This has prompted me to share more widely how I came to youth work and where it's led me since - still, I hope, with a youth work ethos; still making a difference.

About 15 years ago I was in a pretty mixed up place. I'd decided being an academic wasn't for me, dropped out of a PhD and spent a couple of years self-employed as a building contractor.

It was pretty ironic that I'd left education and gone back to a skill I'd learned with my dad to make a living, because he always told me a degree would be 'something to fall back on'. Academia didn't suit me though.

While the PhD in Political Philosophy (which was a postmodern critique of liberalists like John Rawls) meant I'd lost contact with the 'real world' - too much thinking and not enough action - the world I'd returned to, the career my father had always encouraged me to aspire beyond, was too much action and not enough thinking.

I gradually found myself feeling less and less happy with work and eventually, at the point where I was sitting in my van outside a supermarket scoffing pumpkin muffins, trying to find reasons for not starting the next job - I had to admit something needed to change. But what to do?

My stroke of luck was that one of my closest friends worked as a co-ordinator for volunteer mentors. She ever so delicately suggested that if I needed something to think about, something to focus on, I might try helping someone else. It might be better than getting all introspective. It felt like she'd given me a bit of a challenge.

So, I found myself sitting nervously with a motley collection of other people of various ages, from all kinds of backgrounds getting induction training on things like child protection, disclosure and confidentiality. I was then assigned a mentee - a young man who was having trouble with substance misuse and was under the supervision of the local youth offending team.

I won't say all my career dilemmas disappeared as such trivia paled into insignificance alongside his much more pressing worries but they were certainly forgotten whenever I was with him. I guess that forming a relationship with him, learning about his life and having nothing more than patience, interest and care to offer was, for me, a form of what we now call mindfulness. When I was with him I couldn't think about anything else.

As a volunteer I was on a mailing list for training and, also being a keen climber, my eye was caught by a weekend course on using the outdoors for youth work. This led to sessional work with Summer Splash; a programme of activities during the school holidays, targeted at areas of high deprivation and high crime. Funnily enough my first paid job as a youth worker was funded by this strange sounding organisation - the Youth Justice Board.

Being part of the team for a residential camping trip to the Gower really made everything click into place. I found myself using all the seemingly random skills and abilities I'd picked up over the years to work with young people. All those thinking skills I'd learned as a student seemed to combine with my love of the outdoors and my ability to make things. I designed and made outdoor games - like a giant ball-in-a-maze game where 4 young people had to cooperate in getting a golf ball from one end of a 4'x8' sheet of plywood to the other. I planned barbeques and helped out on the abseiling. I played guitar round the camp fire. And I stayed up half the night persuading some of the 'hardest' lads in the city to give it another day and see if they could get used to the creepy night noises. It was exhausting but more rewarding than anything I'd experienced before.

From there I got a part time job as a detached youth worker, enrolled on the youth and community work course before joining the local YOT as a support worker with the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme. I joined the ranks of youth workers who are in most every youth offending team and part of the wider community of people who work in a targeted way with young people who find it hard to fit in - who aren't natural 'joiners'. They're the kind of young people who don't naturally go to a youth club or find themselves excluded from group activities.

Over the years, I've moved away from direct work with young people, through service management and getting involved in policy formation. At every stage, though, the main aim has been focussing on relationships and trying to make a difference. Now, having responsibility for some of the most vulnerable young people - those held in custody - I actually feel like I do more direct work with young people than at other points in my career, such as when I was managing other youth workers.

There are around 40 young people from Wales in Custody and we have space for 70 young people in Welsh custodial establishments. I and my team have to make decisions about where they are placed and make judgements about how our providers are meeting their needs. I still try to keep the youth work principles I learned at the centre of how I do my work today. There aren't many of these young people, so I know a lot of their names and I get to meet a fair few of them. And whenever I do, I get that same experience of forgetting my day to day worries and trivia by concentrating on their lives, their aspirations and their voices.

That's why I still love youth work and why this week of celebration has reminded me why I'm in this job.

A Friendly Face: Video conferencing using Skype to keep in touch with children in custody

At 18, going off to college was exciting but it was also pretty scary. A new town 200 miles from home. A bed in unseen university accommodation. New people to meet from all over the country. A new set of rules and routines never experienced before. My dad's car packed with reminders of home - posters, photographs, possessions and presents given by relatives for this new stage in my life.

My family tried to make the transition from home to college as gentle as they could. They understood our attachment now had to stretch halfway across the country; to help me feel as safe in my new environment as I did at home. Even though we joked about the bin liners of washing that accompanied me along the Heart of Wales line back to Cheshire, mum and I knew the frequent trips home were more about easing me gently into my new life, rather than my delight in the smell of freshly laundered clothes.

Gradually and comfortably, my new identity as a student and independent householder took over from that of a schoolboy and son; but always in the knowledge that whenever there was a crisis or even just a yearning for mum's stew, I could hop on a slow train home.

Contrast this with the shock of being a 16 year old in prison for the first time. All the fear, none of the excitement. Cut off from family and friends. A very different journey in a cellular vehicle. No choice about what you take with you, no mum, no dad, no reminders of home. No way to go back and see familiar faces.

Quite right, you may think. They deserve to be punished.

But apart from the punishment they get at the hands of the state - because simple deprivation of liberty is a punishment, no matter what nonsense you may hear about prison being a cushy option - the majority of the young people we see behind bars have already been punished by the hand life has dealt them.

A comfortable and stable home life does not generally pave the way to prison. Our young people tend to come from backgrounds of poverty, deprivation and a context where even the best and most earnest parenting struggles to make headway. Often, though, they've suffered abuse, neglect and trauma. But because they lack attachment, they crave stability. So they miss their friends and families deeply. Being removed from them just increases anxiety and deepens alienation.

When I joined the YJB in 2005 there was an average of 151 young people from Wales in custody, last year it was just 42 (click to Tweet). Thanks to these huge reductions in numbers, we've decommissioned many units. While it's great that we've been able to do this, it does mean when we place young people in custody we have limited options. Young people are often placed a long way from home; usually because there's no local facility but also, we try to match children to places that have the best chance of meeting their needs.

But this does make it harder and harder for families, as well as support workers to visit. Although most are placed within about 50 miles from home - and that's not exactly round the corner - it's not uncommon for young people to be placed upwards of 200 miles away. Even when secure units are relatively close by, it takes a chunk of time to go through security processes and gain entry. So a round trip of twenty miles can easily turn into a half day commitment for a parent or a worker who may need to see a child for just a 30 minute check in.

Good for HRH Wales, good for Welsh kids inside

These days, when our kids go away travelling far from home, how do we keep in touch? Increasingly, we turn to social media and technology like FaceTime, Hangouts or Skype. It means that even though our children are far away we can see their faces, hear their voices and feel they're closer at hand. Well, if it makes sense for us, what aout the parents and carers of children in custody. Simple eh?

Not so simple.

It started well. We checked there was Ministerial support for this kind of thing - there was!

We got in touch with our providers at Parc YOI where there's a 64 bed unit for young people under 18 and asked if they'd be up for trying this out. Sure, they said, that would be really good - particularly for the English boys; their families and workers really struggle with distance.

Next, we asked if colleagues from the Welsh Centre for Crime and Social Justice and Swansea University would help us measure success. Absolutely! In fact, they had a post-graduate looking for a dissertation topic and this would be ideal. As they always are, our academic friends were very focused on making sure we had a tight specification and sharp 'research question'.

So, we thought we had a pretty robust plan.

You may recall that the Prime Minister recently bemoaned the welter of security rules that prison governors have to contend with. If, as he said, there are rules that govern how many pairs of underpants a prisoner can have - imagine what we faced when we suggested Skype might be a good idea.

The first excuse - sorry, reason - from the opposition was that this was a huge security threat. Conversations went something like this:

Guardian of Security: What if they planned a breakout?

Us: That could happen on a phone now, but we'll make sure the call's monitored.

GoS: The connection wouldn't be secure - the encryption's not strong enough.

Us: Phone connections aren't encrypted at all, you don't mind that.

GoS: How will we know the person on the other end is who they say they are?

Us: Isn't that harder to know on a phone call? After all, at least we'll see them. Anyway, we told you they'll have to show ID on the screen.

GoS: What if the person on the other end does something inappropriate?

Us: Er . . . OK . . . You do realise they'll just be talking to their families and workers, right? Anyway, we did tell you there'll be an officer monitoring the calls. they can switch it off if it gets too steamy!

GoS: What if parents just use this instead of doing proper visits?

Us: Now you're worried about welfare? Really? OK, we don't think that'll happen, but this is a test, so we'll have to see won't we?

Minister: Just go away and get on with it!

So away we went and get on with it we did. The staff in Parc set up the equipment and we helped with information for the young people, staff and families. Time to wait for the requests to come rolling in.

Except they didn't. 

It seems even young people, for all their flexibility, adaptability and spirit of adventure need a prod to try something new. And then there were the YOT staff who needed to be persuaded. And once they were persuaded, lots of them had to re-run various versions of our battle of wills with their IT departments who had even more security concerns than at our end!

Finally though, after a few focus groups with the young people and encouraging conversations with senior local authority folk, the first calls happened. And straight away we started to see what we in the trade call benefits.

20 minutes on Skype or a day in the car? You decide . . .

Let's start with practitioners. The time and cost savings for YOT staff and allied professionals for routine visits were immediatley obvious. One practitioner I've spoken to was close to joyful when she told me how much of a busy working day she won back; just by being able to spend 20 minutes on Skype to check in with a boy rather than half a day in her car. Another, a careers worker, told us how much of a head start another young man had when he was released because they'd already met on Skype. It made such a difference when the lad recognised a friendly face at his first appointment outside. 

However, some of the most meaningful and potentially beneficial contacts, in terms of maintaining attachment, have been with families.

There was the boy who hadn't seen his mum for nearly a year because she was in a care home following illness. A member of my staff (yes the YJB works with real people now and then) met up with Dad on the community end, to show him how to set up a Skype account and accompany him into the home so there could be a tearful reunion via tablet. On the Parc end, the fantastic and tenacious Skype champion Wayne made sure there was someone on hand to deal with any emotional fallout.

Another lad hadn't been able to see his young relatives because, understandably, the family didn't want to expose them to the prison environment on a physical visit. And in any case, he didn't want them to know he wasn't really 'working away'.

Another was able to have a virtual tour of the new house his mum had moved to while he was inside. Knowing what his new bedroom 188 miles away would look like when he got out must have gone a long way to reducing the pre-release nerves young people tell us they get when they're due to come out.

So, at the end of our pilot there have been enough calls to know that there's an appetite for more. There have been no security breaches. The calls have not replaced in-person visits - they've added to them. 

The evaluation interviews with participants show that the service is valued by practitioners, families and young people. The secure unit is keen to continue and we're keen to roll out across the rest of the estate. 

Most importantly we've been able to help preserve an emotional attachment between some very vulnerable children and the people who need to be there to help them stay away from trouble 'on the out'.

There have been challenges along the way - some technical glitches when wifi signals have been a bit weak on the external end - but the biggest obstacle has been preconceptions about security. These can be overcome though. We've since found out there's a similar set up - the Juvenile Justice Video Conferencing Program in California's Santa Clara Superior Court. And, after all, I guess there were some pretty heated discussions about the introduction of the telephones into our prisons a few generations ago but we got there in the end.

Inspection

With the recent publication of a re-inspection report on Newport Youth Offending Service by HMI Probation, I thought it would be a good opportunity to give some insight in the YJB's role in inspection (and to finally pluck up the courage to release my first blog!). It will also give a good idea of how we try to work with youth justice services more generally. I like to think of us as a kind of 'sports coach' to the sector.

Newport's story tells of a journey from the very disappointing result in 2014 to the complete turn around we just saw. I think this is a good case study to demonstrate what goes on between the three interested parties - YOT, Inspectorate and the YJB.

There are three different flavours of YOT inspection:

• Thematic inspections - looking at a particular aspect of YOT work. These, like the recent one on Desistance, are intended to raise awareness of an issue and inform on the best ways of approaching it. They look at how a sample of seven or so YOTs respond to the theme in question and make system-wide recommendations. There's generally one Welsh YOT included, to take account of how devolved law and policy in things like health and social services impact.
• Short quality screening inspections look at individual services - a small case sample is scrutinised and recommendations are given to YOTs in the form of a short letter. 
• Finally, there are full joint inspections (FJIs). Again, these examine individual services. However, they involve a much more comprehensive inspection of the core elements of youth justice delivery, carried out by all relevant Inspectorates and a lay inspector from the sector. In Wales, again to take account of devolution, partner inspectorates include CSSIW, HIW and Estyn.

These FJIs are the big ticket events that we look forward to . . . but YOTs, not so much!

Throughout this cycle of inspections we in YJB Cymru keep up a regular dialogue with HMI Probation, the devolved inspectorates and the Welsh Government. We provide summaries of the data we collect on YOT performance and any other information picked up through our monitoring of and interaction with youth justice services in the community and secure sectors. This helps the inspectorate decide which YOTs to look at next and where they might find good practice or possibly poor performance.

In return, the inspectorates let us know the themes and methodologies for their respective inspection programmes. Irritatingly, but quite rightly, they don't let us know when and where they're inspecting next - that would be giving too much away!

It's after an FJI that we really swing into action. The first thing that happens is informal feedback to the YOT management board from the lead inspector, to which we're invited. This allows the YOT to start planning for how it will respond to recommendations and gives us a head start on deciding what support we can offer.

Following publication of the report the YOT has a set period in which to submit an improvement plan to the Inspectorate - and we advise on this.

As a baseline, we have a statutory role to oversee the plan's delivery through regular updates from the YOT management board. But we try to do more than this. Once this plan is finalised - even before it's published - we start work with the YOT on areas we agree we can be of most help. Depending on the extent of the recommendations, this can range from just being a critical friend - always ready to take a phone call for quick advice - right through to being an active provider of hands on, consultant-like support.

Having been involved in 15 years of monitoring, supporting, consulting and innovating with YOTs across Wales and England, we have an extensive stock of experience, good practice and performance improvement resources. Also, if we don't know the answer to a particular conundrum, we know a YOT who likely does.

With Newport we were ready to be more hands on and the service was keen for us to help. Over the past couple of years we've provided a range of training and development sessions for them. This included: 

• advice on establishing strong quality assurance systems
•  a review of the area's relatively high use of custody -  including interviews with young people and a staff development workshop
• a comprehensive data interrogation and interpretation exercise, to build a better understanding of young people who re-offend
• a session with the management board to help strengthen governance 

Also, early on in the process, we linked the YOT up with a manager from another high performing service who we'd asked to give peer advice and support.

The aim is to support the service, in any way we can, to learn and progress following the often quite harrowing experience of inspection so they do better next time. More important, though, so they deliver ever better services to young people.

Earlier, I mentioned my notion of the YJB as a coach - or maybe personal trainer - for youth justice services. A good coach will base their advice on nutrition, sports science and medical research. Ours comes from things like national standards, legislation, management science, social research and inspection criteria. 

Working on performance improvement with us is like this in another way. While you set the outcomes you're looking for and agree on our training schedule, as we work towards you becoming a superstar, we will make a nuisance of ourselves in helping you get there! There will be days you won't feel like getting up for that management board equivalent of a 6am run and times when you won't like what the weighing scales of our case file dip-sampling will tell you. But, honestly, afterwards, you will feel better and be able to bask in that post-workout glow.

And that's just where the good folk of Newport YOS are now. They've made the biggest turn around we've ever seen between inspection and re-inspection. It's been earned by their hard work and dedication to doing the best for the young people they supervise and care for. Just like any coach would be, we're proud of our athletes - but we know there's more we can do together. There's extra muscle to be gained and always a new personal best to achieve.

So, after the big race, the training cycle starts again. 

For Newport, with re-inspection comes a new - pleasantly shorter - improvement plan. For us? Well, we get to do what we like doing best - help out and learn from the people who are themselves helping some of our most vulnerable young people.