The Communication Trust youth justice programme

The Communication Trust is working with a number of organisations, experts and academics to deliver projects aimed at helping frontline youth justice staff better support young people with communication needs. The Trust is working with the Dyslexia SpLD Trust, Autism Education Trust, Skills for Justice, the Association of YOT Managers, I CAN, Dyslexia Action, National Autistic Society, Youth Justice Board, Prison Reform Trust, Centre for Mental Health, the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and a number of youth justice practitioners and experts to ensure that the projects we deliver meet the specific needs of those they are aimed at.

1. An awareness raising campaign

We are working to increase the awareness of the scale and the impact of communication needs on young people within the youth justice system by producing a range of materials for staff working in Youth Offending Teams (YOT), Secure Children’s Homes (SCH), Secure Training Centres (STC) and Young Offenders Institutions (YOI).

The first of these resources is Sentence Trouble, a free guide to working with young people with communication needs in the youth justice system. Since the booklet was launched in November 2009 over 30,000 have been distributed to front line youth justice staff.

The Sentence Trouble website builds on the booklet, examining what communication needs are, providing examples and advice to support youth justice staff in their work. The website also features a forum to help the youth justice workforce to network, share ideas and share best practice related to communication needs, www.sentencetrouble.info.

2. New training materials

Building on the awareness raising campaign, we have developed new training materials for YOTs, YOIs, SCHs and STCs. We are currently rolling out training to YOTs across the country. Training for YOIs, SCHs and STCs will be piloted shortly.

3. Influencing National Occupational Standards

In partnership with Skills for Justice, we are reviewing the existing training provision for staff working in the youth justice system, to see how this training helps the workforce support young people with communication needs. It is our aim to ensure that any qualifications and National Occupational Standards being reviewed include reference to communication needs.