Lost in Translation
This report shares the interim findings from our Young People’s Link Worker schemes, working with young people with mental health problems in the criminal justice system. Highlighting areas of unmet need, it suggests how services could be developed and adapted to meet the young people’s needs. The report looks at what the Link Workers found, what they did and the approach they are developing.
Since March 2004 we have been working with young people aged 15 to 22 in Kent and the London Borough of Haringey. The young people involved have all been arrested or imprisoned and have also experienced mental health and emotional problems. This report, as well as documenting our interim findings, also captures the views of our clients.
There is currently a range of services available to meet the needs of these young people. However, our research and clinical work has shown that the young people’s needs continue to be unmet due to key systemic failures and gaps. Assumptions within services about vulnerable young people are not grounded in the reality of the young people’s lives. Services frequently expect too much of the young people too quickly and they are unable to respond positively.
The current efforts of services to engage with and support these young people often get ‘lost in translation’. Services need additional support to improve co-ordination and to ensure that information about mental health and vulnerability is shared appropriately. Young people also need help to navigate the system effectively, and support with understanding the different rules, interventions and language used by each agency. Three central themes emerge from our work so far: trauma, the need for a ‘holding space’ and the need for navigation around the system. These are the focus of our ongoing clinical, research and policy work with young people. They provide important insights into how services need to be modified to support young people with mental health needs and multiple problems.
The report explores why services’ efforts get lost in translation. This includes issues such as the underdevelopment of the response to their emotional and mental health problems, the problematic transition from child/adolescent to adult services, and the current absence of any translation service to help young people make sense of the many systems and processes they encounter.
Without reform to the system, vulnerable young people will continue to fall through the net of services. They will remain locked in a cycle of crisis, crime and mental illness into their adult lives. We therefore recommend that these themes should be explored further in order to understand how services can work effectively with the most vulnerable young offenders.
