Alternative Education Pathways

As many as 1 in 7 young people in the UK are outside of education, employment and training. We know that neurodivergence, additional support needs, and mental health as well as trauma and other challenges can all play a part.

For those struggling to take part in other forms of support and provison, to get unstuck, we offer individualised support to help each young person move forward in a way that makes sense for them.

At the minimum, this will be 2 hours of mentoring, and 1 hour of wellbeing support with a qualified therapist per week throughout the year with twice monthly discussions with others supporting the young person such as parents and carers. We can also offer individualised learning, training and workplace support in addition.

As with all our provision, our approach is person-centered, holistic and integrates therapeutic targets and working with professionals such as occupational therapists and speech and language therapists where appropriate.

The goals of each programme will be highly personalised with personal development, education, independence and work related targets often included.

We also offer the ability to take part in working towards accredited qualifications such as Arts Award, ASDAN, and Functional Skills qualifications relevant to the individual.

For these young people, our goal, is to help with transitioning to the right next steps for the individual including in the workplace, volunteering, independent living, or further or higher education, for example.

How to join us

We accept referrals throughout the year from young people, parents and carers, and local authorities.

The first step is for us to review the information provided regarding the young person including about their aspirations and interests. We make a comprehensive intake assessment and offer a range of therapeutic interventions that can be incorporated in the programme we offer. These include integrative therapy, art, music and drama therapy, equine therapy, neurodivergence affirming coaching and therapy, wellbeing coaching, speech therapy, occupational therapy and other bespoke support as required.

Our support can be delivered in the young person’s home and within the community to help with transitioning to other support as may be relevant.

Get in touch and we offer a free initial consultation ahead of making a referral.

Case studies

Tom

Tom (not his real name) joined us aged 19 and had not been accessing education for over 5 years.

At first, Tom was not able to work directly with his specialist mentor. However, we are used to needing to work at the pace of each young person and our mentor made small steps towards direct engagement each session. With the pressure removed, and with a developing confidence that the mentor would arrive and be present for the full session, this allowed Tom to gradually start to engage.

Having worked with our mentoring team and accessing therapy from home initially, Tom has been able to gradually commence informal education related activities and is now sitting public examinations in Maths and English and working towards the Silver Arts Award using his interest and strengths in Music.

Tom is now able to access education with our team with three tutors, his specialist mentoring, has completed work experience we designed and delivered for him, and is accessing wellbeing coaching and therapeutic input including occupational therapy, speech therapy and integrative therapy. Tom has been developing independence skills and is active in his local community.

Starting from weekly sessions, Tom is now highly engaged in full time learning.

Nushi

Nushi (not their real name) joined us aged 17 after their education placement broke down and after being out of education for three years. Nushi was really struggling with their mental health and, it had not been possible for them to access any support whether for their mental health or learning.

Nushi began working with their specialist mentor and an integrative therapist and, again, by working at their pace our team was able to design a programme around Nushi’s interests, strengths and additional support needs.

This led to a supported split placement at a local college with the remaining days being coordinated by our team to include integrative counselling, specialist mentoring, specialist tuition and learning skills development as well as completion of relevant ASDAN short courses relevant to Nushi’s career interests that could not be offered at the college. Nushi has successfully completed a supported work placement and is succeeding in a part time weekend job.

From being out of education entirely, Nushi is fully engaged in learning, developing independence skills and has been successful in their part time work.