YOTs link up with university to help tackle reoffending
Joe Lepper
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Several youth offending teams (YOTs) have linked up with a university to help improve their work with young people, including developing psychological techniques to help them stop offending.
The move will see the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) work with five YOTs in North West England - Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Cumbria, Lancashire and Liverpool - to support them on a range of projects.
One project involves supporting Lancashire YOT to help young people develop psychological and social techniques when they feel emotionally vulnerable or at risk of offending.
The university is also helping Lancashire YOT to develop a mobile app to improve communication between social workers and young people.
In addition, Lancashire YOT is sponsoring a PhD student at the university in her work to examine the key factors behind reoffending.
Through the move the university is helping all YOTs to work together to tackle organised crime across the region.
Other areas of support through the initiative, which involves UCLan's criminal justice partnership team signing a memorandum of understanding with the five YOTs, will be around workforce development, student placements and volunteering opportunities.
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"Although there has been significant progress in reducing the offending rates of young people at a national and local level over the past 10 years, the partnership will focus on the persistent repeat and serious offenders," said Dr John Wainwright, youth and justice lead at UCLan's criminal justice partnership.
"It is in these instances that the pooling of practice and research expertise will have a real and tangible effect in the areas of Lancashire, Cumbria, Blackburn with Darwen and Liverpool."
Lancashire YOT senior manager Carolyn Entwistle added: "We are really excited to have the opportunity to work closely with UCLan and colleagues from neighbouring YOTs to develop and improve services which improves the lives of the young people, parents and carers we work with and their communities."
