The Forward Trust has set up a new mental health service for young people due to leave a secure setting in the Kent and Medway area. This Mental Health Awareness Week, project Team Leader Simon King tells us why support like this is so important in helping reduce reoffending.
When I saw that The Forward Trust was advertising a new mental health support service for young people, I jumped at the chance to get involved.
The plan is to provide enhanced mental and emotional wellbeing support for 18–27 year olds in the Kent and Medway area who have been in a secure setting and are about to leave. The project will run from two prisons – HMPs Elmley and Rochester – with the overall aim of helping these young people reduce or end reoffending behaviours and attend services they might otherwise find difficult to access. This was made possible due to a grant we were awarded by the NHS Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).
Mental health support for young people has always been a subject that’s held great interest for me. Research on mental health among young adults in prison shows that 18-25 is a critical period in the development of mental health problems and aggressive anti-social behaviour. Furthermore, a study of nearly 50,000 prisoners underlined the link between treatable psychiatric disorders and reoffending, showing that the risk of reoffending increases with the number of diagnosed disorders.
Through my own working experience, I have seen first-hand the need for better mental health support for young people in the prison system. I have found that the vast majority of the people we work with in prisons have some form of mental health and/or emotional wellbeing concern. In some instances, I’ve truly felt individuals could have avoided prison if only they had been offered the right kind of support in the community. I have no doubt any person working in the prison establishment would agree.
Evidence from the 2009 Bradford Report and a later report on mental health in the criminal justice system by Revolving Doors supports this. It suggests that as many as 50% of people aged between 18-25 who have mental health and learning disabilities could have avoided prison if they had had proper access to services in the community or been earlier identified as having these issues.
As this is a new project, we are in the fortunate position to be able to shape and tailor the service specifically to the needs of the young people we’re supporting. Our team will deliver a range of interventions prior to release and in the community to support sustained engagement with a bespoke care plan package created with the client whilst they are in prison. Once released, our dedicated team will support each young person to achieve positive outcomes according to their individual mental and emotional wellbeing needs.
Read the full blog post here.
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