Supporting Services for Young Adults

What’s important to know about working with this age group?

• To make a real and lasting difference, it is important to work holistically with young adults. Look at all aspects of their life and not just at the immediate reason for them accessing the service. In many cases, other underlying issues will be of equal concern to that person.
• Listen to what the young adults want and need. Young adults are most positive about services that listen to them and respond to what they say.

“[Mainstream service] tried to put me in a group for my eating disorder. If they would have spoken to me, they would have understood that I don’t like being in a group. It’s hard enough talking to one person, let alone five or six different people with all their problems as well. That really put me off.” (Hannah, 15, Bridging the Gap)

• Though perhaps not yet fully-fledged adults, 16-24 year-olds are also not children. Scaffolding learning and providing ongoing guidance as part of a service allows young adults the confidence of feeling supported, but at the same time allows them room to learn and grow.
• Avoid falling into the trap of being seen as a parent. Many particularly vulnerable young people have come from challenging backgrounds, and may have had a lack of positive role models. Whilst it is important to care about the outcomes for these young adults, service providers should by wary of becoming ‘stand-in’ parents.

Be aware young adults may have had bad experiences of other services and subsequently may be less than willing to engage with yours. Don’t be put off by apparent unwillingness, uncooperativeness or an initial lack of enthusiasm. This may not be anything specific to your service. It is always worth persevering.

“I was quite negative before I saw them. I was like, ‘what’s the point, it never works’, and when I did get in [to the service] it was a pleasant surprise.” (Matilda, 23, IceBreak)

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What about setting up the service?

• Assess what need there is for the service, particularly amongst those who would benefit most – as with Switchback, the Young Carers Transition Service, Bridging the Gap and Young Addaction Derby, conducting research with prospective service users is always helpful in determining what direction to take a new service and where there is most need. It may also be a good tool for encouraging prospective investors and funders.
• Make your argument for the importance of your service by linking in with local service commissioners – the Young Carers Transition Service and Bridging the Gap both came about either because of these links or due to direct action from a local commissioner. This can be a really powerful way of sustaining funding and/or becoming a ‘preferred provider’ in the future.
• Identify key agencies that can help you develop a caseload – you’ve set up your new service, now you just need people to access it. Look around other services that are out there supporting young people and young adults. They could prove to be excellent referral routes for you. Good examples are: Connexions; GPs; colleges and universities; probation; the prison service; social services and mainstream mental health services.
• Have passion and drive to set the service up, but do it in such a way that it can sustain itself. This might be about having staff who are experienced fundraisers; looking out for pilot project opportunities supported by government funding; or finding a way to be self- sufficient through generating income or tapping into sustained funding sources (i.e. part-funded by statutory services).

“I would say as advice to others thinking about setting up, there are a lot of people that are extremely passionate and talented at working with the client group, but all the administration is massively important in the setting up, and the marketing. Not many organisations would consider having 50% of the salary going on non-operational staff – those who don’t deliver the programme. But that’s why we have been able to raise loads of private income and that’s why we managed to persuade [beneficiaries] to get on board. People often underestimate how massively important that whole side of setting up is.” (Switchback)

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What else might be helpful for me to know?

Though there is a temptation to want to help as many people as possible, it is not always the best way. Keeping caseload numbers low means there will be more time to offer a package of support that will really help a young adult move forward with their life. In the long-term, this may then be about taking on more staff as the number of young adults accessing the service grows.

Have a short period between referral and provision – young adults were incredibly positive about the quick referral times they experienced with these bespoke services. For young adults, particularly those who may have very little support elsewhere, a speedy referral can make all the difference.

“I had to wait 7 weeks before I could see [a mainstream mental health professional], and before that I had to wait two months, and by that time I was well past breaking point...” (Matilda, 23, IceBreak)

Think about where your service is based – services like Bridging the Gap and IceBreak benefit from being situated in youth centres, where there are a range of professionals working out of them. This is ideal for both raising the profile of a new service and also getting instant referrals from those other services.

Combine mentoring support with practical tasks – as with The Yard Project and Switchback, a service can be both supportive and practical. A young adult service doesn’t always have to be about ‘soft’ support. It can also offer practical ways to help put that person on the right track.

Develop partnership working – again, Switchback, through links with local prisons and employers, and The Yard Project, with its links to local businesses, are good examples of how to develop partnerships that will keep your service going. Look around for other services or businesses that may have the same goals or interests as you. This could prove to be hugely beneficial in the long run.

Advertise, advertise, advertise! – the one point that kept coming up amongst the young adults was that they were previously unaware of the service that they were accessing. Make as many links as possible, and advertise widely, so that the word can spread about these important young adult services.

“They need to get the word out to get a few more people in. Until my GP said, I’d never heard about it.” (David, 24, IceBreak)

“I don’t think it’s advertised enough. I think if people knew it was out there more, maybe [young adults] would not feel alone and they could feel like something could be sorted for them.” (Matt, 23, Young Addaction Derby)

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