Listen Up - Social Welfare Portal

listenup!Case Study 5 | 103Case Study 5:Support @ The Junction,The Junction, ColchesterMission statement“Our objective is to provide a positive, supportiveand safe environment in which young people canaddress their emotional and behavioural difficultiesin a wide range of therapies. Young people will beencouraged to be involved in the setting up andrunning of the service. The Young Person’s AdvisoryBoard will be involved in the development of theservice.”Overview of the serviceSupport @ The Junction was established in 2002 toprovide support to young people aged 11–18 whowere not able to access statutory services. It is one ofthe services offered by Mind in Colchester. Support@ The Junction was originally funded and set up inaccordance with the local primary care trust’s HealthImprovement and Maintenance Plan, which aimed toprovide an out-of-hours service for young people atrisk from mental health problems, drugs and alcohol.This service developed and grew out of the Childand Adolescent Advocacy Service set up in 1999to provide advocacy for young people in a localpsychiatric unit. Alongside this service, a YoungPeople’s Advisory Board was set up to promoteservice user involvement. It was feedback from thisboard that drove the development of the provisionat Support @ The Junction. When the service gainedits own site, the three services – advocacy, the YoungPeople’s Advisory Board and Support @ The Junction–were brought together under the umbrella of ‘TheJunction’.Service development work carried out as part ofthe Mental Health Foundation projectThe funding from the Mental Health Foundationenabled The Junction to commission Anglia RuskinUniversity to undertake an evaluation of the servicesit provides. As part of this, two young people fromthe Young Person’s Advisory Board at The Junctionwere trained by the university to undertake some ofthe research.The evaluation was undertaken to help increase theprofile and credibility of the service with funders,which, in turn, helps to secure the future of theproject. The young people who helped conduct theresearch have gained both new skills and confidence.An important element of this evaluation has been togive a ‘voice’ to young people who use the serviceand their feedback by means of focus groups hasinformed the evaluation report.Key findings of the evaluation included: shorttermand piecemeal funding led to difficulties insustaining and developing the service; young peoplereported that they were not keen to go to statutoryservices; and marketing of The Junction was neededbut difficult due to staffing levels.Service catchment areaColchesterReferralsSupport @ The Junction accepts all 11-18 year oldswith emotional, behavioural or substance misuseissues either through self, parental or statutoryreferral. If an initial assessment indicates that a youngperson would also benefit from being referred toanother agency including statutory services, thenSupport @ The Junction will make contact.Public sector organisations referring to the serviceinclude: education institutions, the youth judiciarysystem, A&E departments, GPs, youth services, socialservices, the local primary care trust, mental healthtrusts and drug and alcohol services and others.Referral details in April–June 2006During this three-month period, 21 young peoplewere referred to the service. Young people were oftenreferred for more than one reason. The main reasonswere behavioural problems (56%) and anger (48%).Referred young people’s details inApril – June 200686% of the young people were aged 16 or under, and14% were aged between 17 and 21. 62% were male