Alice Sampson

Working in the community with young people who offend

This paper discusses how the ‘at risk’ and ‘what works’ approach that drives the management of youth criminal justice systems produces little knowledge that informs practitioners how best to work with young people who offend and how to design effective crime prevention programmes. An alternative approach that is more informative for the development of effective practices is proposed. This approach prioritises problem-solving and finding out how interventions work. Findings from research we carried out on four local youth inclusion programmes are drawn on to illustrate the potential of this approach to improve practice.

Fighting for Peace: From the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro and Beyond

Fight for Peace (FFP) is an international voluntary organisation aiming to overcome divisions and violence and promote the potential of young people who live in disadvantaged communities by using boxing and martial arts combined with education and personal development. Set up initially in Rio de Janeiro, FFP was also later adapted and delivered in the London Borough of Newham, to test the feasibility of implementing the project in other cultures and societies.

Fight for Peace Academies in Rio and London - assessing their progress and impact

The purpose of the research conducted by the Centre for Institutional Studies, University of East London between April 2012 and May 2013 is to independently assess the effect of the Fight for Peace (FFP) Academies on the lives of young people in London, UK, and Rio, Brazil. The research is also designed to provide information to inform practice and development of FFP as an organisation. This report identifies factors which explain how FFP programmes impact upon the life course of young people and summarises the main outcomes. A short report summarising the findings were published in November 2012 and can be found on the Centre’s website (www.uel.ac.uk/csjc).

Evaluation of Tottenham Thinking Space Pilot: Final Report. Research Report 11.

This reports summarises research that began in March 2014 and was completed in October 2015 by an experienced inter-disciplinary research team from the Centre for Social Justice and Change and Psycho-Social Research Group, School of Social Sciences, the University of East London (UEL) and included Dr Yang Li from the Centre for Geo-Information Studies, UEL, for the first phase of the study. Tottenham ‘Thinking Space’ (TTS) was a pilot therapeutic initiative based in local communities and delivered by the Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust and funded by the London Borough of Haringey Directorate of Public Health. TTS aimed to improve mental health and enable and empower local communities. TTS was situated within a mental health agenda that was integral to Haringey’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2012-2015 and aimed to encourage people to help themselves and each other and develop confident communities. On the one hand TTS was well-suited to this agenda, but, on the other, participants were resistant to, and were trying to free themselves from labelling that implied ‘mental health difficulties’. A total of 243 meetings were held and 351 people attended 1,716 times. The majority of participants attended four times or less, and 33 people attended between 5 and 10 times and 39 people attended over 10 times. Attending a small number of times does not necessarily mean that the attendee was not helped. Attendees reflected the ethnic diversity of Tottenham; 29 different ethnic groups attended. The opportunity to meet with people from different cultural backgrounds in a safe space was highly valued by attendees. Similarly, participants valued the wide age range represented and felt that they benefited from listening to inter-generational experiences. The majority of participants were women (72%) and they were instrumental in initiating further Thinking Spaces, topic specific meetings, the summer programme of activities for mothers and young children and training to meet their needs. The community development worker had a key role in implementing the initiative and sustaining its growth throughout the pilot period. We observed that TTS attracted those whose life experiences were marked by personal struggle and trauma. Many participants felt safe enough to disclose mental health difficulties (85% of those who completed a questionnaire). Participants also came seeking a stronger sense of community in their local area. Key features of the meetings are that they are democratic, non-judgemental, respectful, and focussed on encouraging everyone to listen and to try to understand. We found that the therapeutic method was put in place by high quality facilitators and health and personal outcomes for participants were consistent with those predicted by the underpinning psychoanalytical and systemic theories. Outcomes included a reduction in anxieties and improved personal and social functioning; approximately two thirds of those who completed a questionnaire felt better understood, felt more motivated and more hopeful for the future. The overwhelming majority of survey respondents also felt good about contributing to their community, said that they were more able to cooperate with others and accepting of other cultures, and had made new friends. Participants typically had a better understanding of their current situation and how to take positive action; of those who completed a questionnaire, over half felt more confident to seek support for a personal issue and to contact services. Members of TTS supported each other and instilled hope and build community-mindedness that reduced social isolation.

Summary of an independent evaluation of Tottenham Thinking Space: October 2013 – December 2014

This summary includes the main findings from two reports compiled by researchers from the School of Social Sciences at the University of East London; the first on the initial implementation phase, and a subsequent evaluation report on Tottenham Thinking Space (TTS) between October 2013 and December 2014. The latter report is available on (http://www.uel.ac.uk/csjc/reports.htms).

Summary research findings of Tottenham Thinking Space pilotRESEARCH REPORT 10

This reports summarises research that began in March 2014 and was completed in October 2015 by an experienced inter-disciplinary research team from the Centre for Social Justice and Change and Psycho-Social Research Group, School of Social Sciences, the University of East London (UEL) and included Dr Yang Li from the Centre for Geo-Information Studies, UEL, in the first phase of the study. Tottenham ‘Thinking Space’ (TTS) was a pilot therapeutic initiative based in local communities and delivered by the Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust and funded by the London Borough of Haringey Directorate of Public Health. TTS aimed to improve mental health and enable and empower local communities. TTS was situated within a mental health policy agenda that encourages people to help themselves and aims to develop confident communities. On the one hand TTS was well-suited to this agenda, but, on the other, participants were resistant to, and were trying to free themselves from labelling that implied ‘mental health difficulties’. A total of 243 meetings were held and 351 people attended 1,716 times. The majority of participants attended four times or less, and 33 people attended between 5 and 10 times and 39 people attended over 11 times. Attendees reflected the ethnic diversity of Tottenham; 29 different ethnic groups attended. The opportunity to meet with people from different cultural backgrounds in a safe space was highly valued by attendees. Similarly, participants valued the wide age range represented and felt that they benefited from listening to inter-generational experiences. The majority of participants were women (72%) and they were instrumental in initiating further Thinking Spaces, topic specific meetings, the summer programme of activities for mothers and young children and training to meet their needs. The community development worker had a key role in implementing the initiative and sustaining its growth throughout the pilot period. We observed that TTS attracted those whose life experiences were marked by personal struggle and trauma. Many participants felt safe enough to disclose mental health difficulties and a sense of hopelessness. Participants also came seeking a stronger sense of community in their local area. We found that the therapeutic method was put in place by high quality facilitators and health and personal outcomes for participants were consistent with those predicted by the underpinning psychoanalytical and systemic theories. Outcomes included a reduction in anxieties and improved personal and social functioning; approximately two thirds of those who completed a questionnaire felt better understood, felt more motivated and more hopeful for the future. The overwhelming majority of survey respondents also felt good about contributing to their community, said that they were more able to cooperate with others and accepting of other cultures, and had made new friends. Participants typically had a better understanding of their current situation and how to take positive action; of those who completed a questionnaire, over half felt more confident to seek support for a personal issue and to contact services.

From NEET to ETE: An evaluation of the longer term outcomes of the Pathways programme at Fight for Peace, UK

This report reviews data on the longer term outcomes for those who have attended the Fight for Peace (FFP) Pathways programme and is funded by Credit Suisse, the major funders of the Programme between 2009 and 2014. A total of 134 young people have attended the Pathways programme and data are included on the lives of young people who graduated up to six years ago. The research findings show that the Pathways programme at FFP has exceeded its targets over a sustained period of time and has a discernable and significant longer term influence on the lives of young people who attend. After they graduated, the majority of young people continued to improve their CVs by taking courses and by finding work. They remain optimistic about their future.

An independent evaluation of Tottenham Thinking Space: October 2013 – December 2014

The University of East London (UEL) was appointed jointly by Haringey Directorate of Public Health and the Tavistock & Portman NHS Trust to independently evaluate the Tottenham Thinking Space Project. Tottenham Thinking Space (TTS) was launched in October 2013. The research for this report took place between March and December 2014. An interim report on the initial implementation of TTS found early indications that a robust and professional implementation strategy was being put in place and the initiative was being embedded into local agencies and engaging with local communities (Price et al 2014). This report outlines the origins of the therapeutic approach and its implementation in the context of Tottenham. It describes how TTS has evolved and evaluates the extent to which it is meeting its outcomes. This evaluation, with its focus on outcomes, takes place at an early stage of the initiative. Whilst many outcomes are being achieved, it is too early to evidence medium and longer term outcomes. Our evaluation approach, however, enables us to predict if these outcomes can be expected.

The Money a+e Money Champions Programme:An Evaluation Report. Research Report 9

The Centre for Social Justice and Change (CSJC), University of East London (UEL), working with Money a+e, administered 87 questionnaires and conducted 10 interviews with people that underwent the training to become a Money Champion. This final report presents the findings from this research.  The central finding of the report is that undergoing training to become a Money Champion makes people feel better able to manage their finances. Just 50% expressed confidence in this before the training compared to 97% after. Money Champions felt more aware of financial services (30% to 92%); more aware of online tools and support websites (22% to 98%); and more confident in seeking out consumer deals to meet their needs (38% - 97%). This has a knock-on effect for peoples overall sense of wellbeing with an increase from 53% to 95% of participants stating that the training has improved their abilities to remain well and healthy even when they are facing money problems.  When we explored these changed attitudes and behaviours in the interviews we found further evidence of changed financial behaviour with participants ending high risk practices (cutting up credit cards, not taking out payday loans); engaging in short term saving; confronting rather than putting off debt problems.  Amongst the people that we interviewed we found abundant evidence of hardship and debt both in the interviewees lives and in the lives of the people they served and interacted with. Changes to the welfare system and low pay, again and again, came up as a cause of hardship and indebtedness. In addition we found ample evidence of the link between hardship and mental illness. While debt in itself is not the cause of mental health problems it can exacerbate underlying conditions and in this regard count as a contributory factor. Staying in control of your money is therefore important for general wellbeing.  Overall we found the peer-to-peer approach of the programme to be effective as a way of getting beyond peoples initial reluctance to talk about their finances and as a way of disseminating the educational programme. However we would have liked to have seen more evidence of the ‘ripple effect’ intended. For a number of reasons – institutional and interpersonal - it proved difficult to contact those who had been mentored by the Money Champions and addressing this issue somehow, forms our central recommendation for the programme going forward.  We found that the peer-to-peer approach was less effective in organisations where the service provider/client relationship is entrenched. The housing associations, for example, where the relationship between service provider and client can be marked by lack of trust makes it difficult for the peer-to-peer approach to flourish. However, this ought not to be insurmountable especially if clients are referred to the money advice teams at an early staged before they have amassed significant arrears.  Finally we found ample evidence that participants were sufficiently enthused by the programme to want to expand it to include other partners (e.g. a credit union), and other community institutions (schools, colleges etc.) Some participants suggested linking in the programme with a range of other services including mental health, addiction and counselling services.

Food Banks in East London: Growth by Stealth and Marginalisation by the State

In debates about the formation of policies to alleviate poverty food banks are considered by some to inhibit the development of policies to address structural inequalities that account for poverty, social and health inequalities. By feeding hungry people food banks bring immediate relief, but, it is argued that the availability of emergency food removes pressures from policymakers to adopt a social justice and rights-based solution to address the causes of food poverty. Following her research on Trussell Trust Foodbanks two years ago Lambie-Mumford called for a debate on these issues before food banks become institutionalised (Lambie-Mumford 2013). In this paper we describe how a policy of dissociation by central government has created a space for food banks to multiple by stealth. The lack of policy debate has been accompanied by a largely absent discussion about how food banks operate in practice, and in this study we asked food bank managers what they do, and how they are coping with, and adapting to increased demand for their services.