Running: Other Choices Practice Profile
The PINS Team recently visited Aberlour’s Running: Other Choices project in Glasgow. Through discussion with Laura Irvine, Service Manager, more was learnt about the work they do with young people who are experiencing difficultly with school. Particular attention was given to PINS current themes ‘Taking a Critical Stance’ and ‘Vulnerable Children, Young people and Education’ and how these relate to the day to day work of the service.
In what ways do you consider the young people you work with to be vulnerable?
Running away puts young people at risk of harm – there is no safe, nurturing adult looking after them when they run away. Young people are most often running from something as opposed to running to somewhere. It is a coping mechanism that reflects issues in the family home such as family breakdown, substance misuse or dealing with a parent having a new partner. The refuge provides them with a safe place to be. It means they are not on the streets or sofa surfing or staying in houses where there are other potential risks.
Young people who runaway are also vulnerable because of the fact that they make poorly informed decisions about their lives. Due to a chaotic family environment they have often not had the opportunity to engage consistently with education or learn appropriate lessons about risk and safety that most young people take for granted. This results in low self esteem, limited social skills and a lack of understanding about other people’s motivations. They will often get drunk or have a blow out because their life is so constrained or alternatively because no limits or boundaries have been placed on them. This evidently leaves them particularly vulnerable to exploitation.
Could you tell me about how the vulnerability of the young people you work with impacts on their experience of school?
Some young people who runaway have an extremely positive experience of school. They have a good relationship with pastoral care and like the fact that school is routine and predictable. For other young people we work with school is hell on earth – they can’t manage mainstream education and do not see it as being for them. The chaos and unpredictability of their home environment makes the rigid structure of school hard to cope with. There is no encouragement or similar structure at home so they find it difficult to get up in the morning, to wear a tie every day and to present their home work – the normal aspects of school life that most young people get on with.
It is also the case that during 1st and 2nd year at high school young people are becoming more self aware. The young people we work with will often compare their situation with other pupils and realise that their experiences of home do not reflect what their peers are saying. They are not having the stable and positive family experiences that other pupils are speaking about and this can leave them feeling distressed. Bullying is also a huge issue. Being ostracised by peers can compound feelings of worthlessness.
As an individual, or staff team, could you tell me a little bit about how you reflect on your work with young people?
There are a number of aspects of our service that encourage staff reflection in terms of the work we do with young people. For instance:
- Formal support and supervision: This gives me the opportunity to speak to individual staff members about how work is going for them, specific parts of work that they want to talk about
- Monthly staff meeting: We meet every month as a staff team to catch up and share views on the service – especially what we are doing, how we are doing it and how we can do it better.
- Case Study reviews: We also diary regular case study review sessions when we meet as a team and look at the service we have given a particular young person. This is useful to review our practice and make suggestions in terms of improvements or things we could do differently.
- Staff Development days: These are about looking at the aims or our service and also building better relationships and motivation within the staff team
- Revisit Days: Our service is underpinned by a belief in the value of utilising solution focused brief therapy in working with young people. We buy in solution focused training on a regular basis to keep staff well versed in the approaches we feel are successful and we want them to adopt in their work with young runaways.
- Training Opportunities: We will also release staff for specific training opportunities that we feel will be of benefit in terms of their work with young people.
- Evaluation with young people: We will speak with young people and also ask them to complete an evaluation form in terms of our service.
What benefits does reflection bring to your work with young people?
Reflection is essential in terms of improving the quality of our work with young people. If we are constantly looking at what we do, why we do and how we could do things better then the quality of our work with young people should remain high. Reflection is also really important in terms of keeping staff motivated and enthusiastic about their work. If we have a culture where staff are encouraged to raise questions and make suggestions about work and we are receptive to change then they are more likely to take more responsibility for their work. It is empowering for staff if they come to us and say ‘to do x we need y’ and we respond to this. It gives them a greater level of investment in the work they are doing.
Reflection also helps create an environment where good work is recognised and shared with staff. We are also better placed to admit when things have not worked as we would have liked them and support each other to develop our practice.
How do you know that your practice makes a difference?
We have developed an evaluation system so that young people who access the refuge and/or our outreach service can feedback their experience of the service. We ask them to give the service a rating out of 10 for things such as if they felt welcome, if staff were helpful, if staff listened to them, if they had the opportunity to make positive decisions about the future while at the refuge. The data we have from young people indicates that the service is making a positive difference.
We also know from some of the young people we work with longer term that they have gone on to make positive changes in their lives. We work with young people at a crucial stage and we see it as a really good opportunity to support them to make some positive decisions that can be followed through. A recent example is a boy we worked who was literally on the streets for four weeks prior to coming to us. We recommend that he should be accommodated which he was and this has proved to be a positive experience for him. He is now 18, studying for his standard grades and expressed an interest in terms of working in our service.
How can we respond to reduce the vulnerability of young people and improve their experience of school?
It helps when teachers know their pupils individually – when they respond to individual needs. Some of the schools we work with are great. They appreciate reasons for fluctuations in attendance and are willing to make school work for the young person – whether that is a part time timetable or looking at alternative provision. It is also important to remember that pupils, especially adolescents, are at the age of testing boundaries, learning and finding out a bit more about themselves. This is normal part of growing up and we need to see behaviours within this context. Having a better understanding of young people, why they behave as they do and also looking behind their behaviour helps to improve understanding and relationships.
Families need better support to implement consistent boundaries and routines that allow children to be children and grow at appropriate stages. For the young people we work with there has been a lack of preservation of their childhood. I would not have the coping mechanisms to deal with some of the things they have had to deal with from a very young age.
Another point I would add is the importance of solution focused approaches. We try to get beyond problems as quick as we can and start to put choices and support on the table so young people can make positive decisions. Young people know the issues and simply focusing on problems will not make them go away. It is empowering for a young person to discuss what is practical, reasonable and achievable and then to subsequently support them to make positive change in their lives.
I understand that funding for the R:OC service ends on the 31st March 08? Could you say a little bit more about this?
The main funding for Refuge has been through the Scottish Governments Youth Crime Prevention Fund, however the Government has now disseminated these funds to Scotland’s 32 Unitary Authorities with no ring fencing. As such the Refuge has now lost a major funding stream and at this time no alternative funding sources have been identified. We are endeavouring to secure funding from the Local Authorities whose young people use refuge, we have been successful in securing a formal agreement with one of our partner Local Authorities however there is still a significant funding gap which if not addressed will impact on the services ability to continue operating and its sustainability.
