Communications & Marketing, Includem
Includem is a specialist Scottish charity which provides intensive one-to-one and family support. We adopt a holistic, strengths based, trauma informed, rights respecting approach with a range of services offered from early intervention through to intensive family support.
The ADAPT Service is flexible with multiple referral routes and the overall outcome is to reduce the number of young people in conflict with the law and ensure the young people and their families get appropriate support. Over the past year the service has supported 26 young people aged 16-18 and their families from Glasgow, with a third of contacts happening outside of 9-5pm.
An independent evaluation has been carried out involving nine families. These accounts showed the reasons for offending were sometimes as simple – but challenging – as poverty and the area they lived in offering little opportunities, to more complex reasons such as dealing with trauma. The young people had a lot of fragile potential and this not being recognised could mean that it was so easily lost. It was shocking that the young people reported having already lost hope for their future because they felt they were seen as troublemakers and nothing more.
A crisis point being hit often triggered the support given by Includem and the help was both wanted and needed, with parents feeling exasperated and alone, too ashamed to tell family and friends the realities of their situation, and the young people ‘stuck’ in a cycle of getting into trouble. Despite the desire for support in the initial stages, significant work was carried out by the service to gain trust and build mutual respect. Parents were struck by how different the whole family approach was to what they had had in the past, and it was welcomed.
These testimonies highlight that the relationships built with the workers provided the young people and their families the space and time to open up, make sense of their situation, and it was the first time interviewees reported feeling heard by services. By Includem being future focused, those supported recognised that change was possible and a better future attainable.
The service has supported the young people to take a step back and think before acting – to think more carefully about how they spend their time and to make wiser choices – taking their future into account. They have also taught parents to focus on positive changes and provide affirmation. In the simplest terms, these changes in dynamics brought calm and resulted in roles being reset, of the parent regaining control and them becoming a family again.
The young people reported not getting involved in trouble and making connections instead towards gaining education and employment. All participants related feeling that they had been given a ‘second chance’. The shift in identity from being a young person getting into trouble to someone who was mature and had goals for the future was very clear for most and showed that Includem’s support was transformational.
Young people and their families attributed the changes made as being largely due to the support given. The only suggested improvement to Includem’s practice was that help could be given earlier. The families also felt that other services could learn the importance of listening to those they support. Although not an area discussed openly it is important to recognise the backdrop of poverty to these accounts and the significant stress that this places on individuals.
“Includem have made me realise that I need to think about things before I do them and to stay calm…The main change I have made is that before I wouldn’t back down from a fight, whereas now I walk away…I want better for my life.” (James, 15)
“They helped her to get a second chance and they gave me hope.” (Rose, Mum)
“I think if I had been in touch with them earlier it would have helped me to get into things…I think this is the first time I have been thinking about my future.” (Dean, 15)
