Service users as the key to service change? The development of an innovative intervention for excluded young people

Abstract

Background Excluded young people, especially those affected by street gangs, often have complex unmet needs and high levels of health and social inequalities. This paper outlines the development of Music & Change, an innovative and comprehensive intervention accessible to young people, which aimed to holistically meet the mental health and other needs of its participants and ultimately to reduce offending rates. Its central principle was coproduction and partnership with its potential users. Method The setting was an inner‐city housing estate; the core group of participants was 15 young people aged 16–22 years. The intervention used contemporary music skills (e.g. DJ‐ing and lyric writing) and other coproduced project activities as a vehicle to build relationships with practitioners and address young people's multiple needs. Data were gathered using a focused ethnography, largely from field notes, and analysed using thematic analysis in order to ascertain users’ perceptions of its delivery. Results Young people identified six key principles of the intervention, such as the need for consistent relationships with trusted staff, mental health support to be wrapped round other youth‐led activities and local service delivery within their safe territories. Conclusions Music & Change was valued by young people who do not easily engage with professionals and services. The findings led to the development of the ‘Integrate’ model, which is using these coproduced principles to underpin several new pilot projects that aim to address the health and social inequalities of excluded young people.

How Young Adults in London Experience the Clubhouse Model of Mental Health Recovery: A Thematic Analysis

“…Most of it is yourself but the environment was helpful to facilitate that growth and the fact you can drop in after a few months. (Jack) Similarly, Zlotowitz et al (3)found that in order to engage excluded young people, long-term, consistent relationships with practitioners who were caring, non-judgemental and trustworthy was essential. Participants' experiences of clubhouse staff certainly met this threshold, helping young adults to feel needed as valuable members of society.…”

A Qualitative Study of an Employment Scheme for Mentors with Lived Experience of Offending Within a Multi-Agency Mental Health Project for Excluded Young People

“…The Integrate model is an approach to mental health service development and design for excluded young people and is described in detail elsewhere. 19 The model aims to reduce offending, improve young people’s mental health, support access to services and employment, and create change at wider levels. The target group for this particular project were people aged 16–25 who were involved in serious offending behaviours.…”

“…The pilot was led by the charity MAC-UK in partnership with a NHS trust and the local authority. The Integrate model is an approach to mental health service development and design for excluded young people and is described in detail elsewhere 19. The model aims to reduce offending, improve young people’s mental health, support access to services and employment, and create change at wider levels.…”

Practice to policy: Clinical psychologists’ experiences of macrolevel work.

“…The insider perspective was offered by some participants who were part of ameliorative policy development, at the heart of government systems such as the United Kingdom National Health Service and public health departments (Michie, 2008; Richardson, 2015). Other participants offered an outsider perspective on transformative policy change, attempting to challenge the status quo and power structures, developing campaigns, and giving a voice to marginalized groups affected by policy (Allen, 2013; Burton, 2013; Holland, 2006; Nelson, 2013; Zlotowitz, Barker, Moloney, & Howard, 2016). Maton (2016) refers to these as varying “vantage points” from which psychologists choose to influence policy, working with different stakeholder groups to achieve the same outcome.…”