Our staff go out on detached sessions in pairs. They always notify colleagues of the time and route that they will be taking. Quite often, we are able to map their route using GPS. We ensure our staff are well trained and aware of any pre-existing issues before they go out on detached. We take all necessary steps to protect our staff.

We quite often meet young people who want or need some help. This may be to do with health, physical and mental issues. We have established good working relationships with several local partners. Often times, sign-posting notifies young people where to access the support they need. However, we are always on hand to help on a more formal basis. In these cases, we make arrangements for young people to come to our youth space for further support.

We measure the success of this service in many ways. This includes the number of young people we have met and where neccessary, supported. We also measure the number the sessions carried out per year, the distance walked and time spent. Time is precious and sometimes, all a young person needs is someone’s time – so this is one of the most important measures to us.

The other (formal) way that we measure the success of this intervention is by how many referrals we get via it. Each year we see a demand for our services from young people who we meet on the streets. It could be to do with anti-social behaviour, confidence building, mental health issues or health issues. When a young person refers themselves to our services, we do everything we can to support them, working with partners where appropriate.