The Vision Project

HOW DO WE STOP TODAY’S
YOUTH FROM BECOMING
TOMORROW’S SOCIALLY
EXCLUDED ADULTS?
WRITTEN BY SANDY HORE-RUTHVEN
Sandy is the Chief Executive of Creative Youth
Network, Chair of Voscur and Green Party
candidate for Mayor of Bristol in 2020.
Liam is a young man with dyspraxia,
dyslexia and mild learning difficulties. His
problems started to become more serious
later on during primary school. He fell
behind with reading and his dyspraxia
meant he was ‘disorganised’; never
having the right pencil or the right book
and rummaging around in his bag for 10
minutes before he could get started...
Occasionally this would lead to a fractious
argument with a teacher who couldn’t start the
lesson until he had got himself sorted. During
primary school this was manageable but when
he went to secondary school things became
worse. The pressure to achieve grew, as did the
complexity of lesson timetables, homework and
the need to be generally prepared. His poor
reading skills meant he fell behind in most of his
subjects. He began to get into more trouble and
became violent – partly as a way to avoid being
shown up or made to feel ridiculous. He hung in
there for a couple of years but soon started to
play truant more regularly until eventually he left
mainstream school in year 9.
This example is important because truancy
from school is the single most reliable indicator
that a young person is going to become socially
excluded.
Social exclusion can take many forms – at its
simplest, it’s not having the money to take part in
things that our peers do. But at its deepest it can
be caused by serious trauma and the problems
can affect our very personalities. The causes might
be anything from serious physical or sexual abuse
to neglect. Or, it may be caused by bullying, a
disability (sometimes simply a personality that
doesn’t fit with the mainstream) or low resilience
to the ‘slings and arrows’ that life throws at us.
We know too that those who are in a minority
are more likely to suffer – for example those who
are BAME or LGBT are more likely to experience
exclusion. At its most extreme, it changes our
brains.
We know that neglect and abuse changes the
neural pathways we develop as we grow. It can
lead to things like anxiety or hyper-vigilance. If we
are anxious we see danger everywhere and act
accordingly. Panic, aggression, fear or passivity
above and beyond what is ‘normal’ can cripple a
person’s development leading to lack of friendships
or ‘bad’ behaviours. We can, in turn, resort to drugs,
alcohol or other behaviour that ‘treats’ the problem
in the short term but of course, in the long run,
does more damage. Many young people hang out
with the ‘wrong crowd’ because they are looking to
belong and will forgo their own wellbeing, getting
involved in crime or sexual exploitation at worst.
But let’s start with the reality – most young people
don’t become socially excluded adults. Most young
people, including some who suffer from serious
trauma or troubles in their early years, go on to live
fulfilling lives. So, we are discussing a minority of
young people, those whose trauma is so great that
it affects their lives irrevocably.
But if we are to work out and answer the question
we need to look further at those who do lead
fulfilling lives. Study after study highlights that the
single most important factor, when successfully
dealing with difficulty in life, is the relationships
we have around us. This might be family, friends
or professionals. Having people around you to help
you through problems and make sense of them.
This in turn allows us to moderate our behaviour as
we recover. Good relationships also allow problems
to be spotted early reducing the damage they do
in the first place.
Liam became a carpenter. His mother and father
sent him to a special school where he thrived. Now
19, he is supported by his parents to find the right
course for him and is now ‘on his way in life’.
The second thing is time. Recovering never takes
a few days or weeks. We have to process it,
understand how it has affected us. Our experience
at Creative Youth Network tells us that young
people have to go on a journey of discovery. It has
ups and downs, successes and failures, so people
must have the time to work out how to live their
lives.
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THE VISION PROJECT