When I was younger things weren't great at home, and I was in and out of police custody a few times. I left home at 16, and social services classed me as semi-independent, which I thought was great at first, but they didn't give me any support – they didn't do any checks, or give me any help to move to my own accommodation, or any help at all really. I ended up being homeless.
At the moment, most young people don't have anything for the in-between ages. There are Asbos, but there's nothing constructive.
Over the last year I have been volunteering with Revolving Doors Agency looking at services for young adults making the transition to adulthood. We visited lots of projects for young people aged 16 to 25; all kinds of projects including mental health, homelessness, mentoring and legal advice.
We met staff and service users and discussed what they did and how and why it worked. Revolving Doors then used this information to write guides for practitioners and commissioners on how services for young adults can be improved.
Visiting the projects made me realise that there is lots of positive stuff going on – I had no idea that some of these services existed. It's good to have knowledge of what is going on around you – lots of people don't know what's out there. If I'd known where to get help with legal stuff I wouldn't be in the place I am now.
Positive outlooks
The projects we visited all had really positive outlooks for the young people they work with. They had high aspirations, which is really important. Having positive people around you gives you a better chance of doing something positive with your life. It's also really important to have people who want you to aim high in life; to develop your self esteem and your potential. Everybody needs a chance to try and make something of themselves.
I know there's not much money at the moment, but the different services need to talk to each other. Hopefully Revolving Doors' guides will show people how they can do this.
There are some really simple things that could be done to help young people who are in difficulties to change things and begin to do something positive. Providing education, mentoring and things like sexual health services in youth clubs would be a good step. And, giving more authority to key workers to help young people to access services is important too.
A lot of these things don't need to be expensive. The biggest thing is to give us the chance and support to help ourselves. Don't just feed us. Give us the spoon and show us how to use it.
Tafari Franklyn-Brown is a participant in Revolving Doors Agency's Transition to Adulthood project, and contributed to Aiming higher: a good practice guide to working with young adults with multiple needs
Download the guide here
From Bubb's Blog
From Whitehall Watch
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