Youth workers in emergency departments 'reduce youth violence'
Fiona Simpson
Thursday, December 2, 2021
Schemes that place youth workers in hospital A&E departments show “real promise” in keeping children safe from involvement in violence, researchers have said.
The Youth Endowment Foundation (YEF) has added evidence about A&E navigator programmes, including Redthread’s flagship initiative that embeds youth work teams in 13 hospitals across London, Nottinghamshire and Birmingham and a project with Thames Valley Police’s Violence Reduction Unit, to fund and evaluate voluntary sector organisations to deliver navigator interventions across five hospitals, to its online toolkit.
The toolkit is a free resource that summarises research on what works to reduce youth violence.
The latest study indicates such projects “might make a real difference to the children most vulnerable to violence” but adds that more research is needed “to be really confident in that assessment”.
In order to boost the evidence available on the topic, the YEF has committed to invest in both projects.
Other updates to the toolkit include new information on restorative justice, prison awareness programmes, trauma-informed practice and the impact of sport and physical activity on young people most at risk of violence.
Jon Yates, executive director of the Youth Endowment Fund, said: “The YEF toolkit exists to ensure that every pound spent on reducing violence is a pound that is well spent.
“I’m delighted that we’ve found promising evidence of the difference that restorative justice and placing a youth worker in A&E can make. It also tells us that to be confident that the services we provide make a difference we need to invest in gathering more evidence.
“That’s what we’re here to do, and why we’re funding programmes like A&E navigators. We hope that, by using the YEF toolkit, everyone working to keep young people safe – whether as police and crime commissioners, violence reduction unit directors or a local authority leads – will fund the most promising activity.
“The more evidence we find, the more we’ll add to the toolkit. Every six months, we’ll keep adding what we’ve learned.That way, we can help you to make decisions, by enhancing your local knowledge.
“By working together, we can make sure that no child becomes involved in violence.”
To access the YEF’s toolkit, visit: www.youthendowmentfund.org.uk/toolkit
