Supporting young people out of education, employment or training

As many as 1 in 7 of those aged 16-24 are outside of education, employment and training (NEET).

We know what a worry this can be for parents and carers, and, also, for young people themselves. Worries can pile up and mean that it becomes even more challenging to take action. While there are a variety of interventions and supports available these may be not be accessible to young people who may feel they are struggling, have had poor experiences in education or work already, and may also feel taking steps to build their future all feels too difficult and that there is no one out there that understands.

Initially, being at home all the time can feel like a welcome relief from the demands and difficulties that many young people experience in the education system. Mental health can improve from being away from sensory, social, and learning related challenges in education for example. However, while having a lower level of demands can be useful, it can then make it seem more difficult to cope with new demands even where these would be beneficial.

Many of the children and young people we have worked with have been entirely out of education when we started working with them. In our view, the way forward is to meet young people where they are at. This might literally need to be at home to start with. Our specialist mentors work with young people and, at the young person’s pace, we start to build an appropriate relationship where the young person can feel able to trust their mentor. This allows us to get to know the young person and where they might want to get to in their life. We can then start to work together to take steps toward the future they would like to build for themselves.

By working at the young person’s pace, celebrating achievements and seeking to encourage adaptations in the young person’s environment where possible, we have seen young people achieve great outcomes that would have seemed unthinkable or even unrealistic to imagine when we first met them.  

Our Together programme works by offering two hours per week of specialist mentoring and an hour of wellbeing skills support to each young person throughout the year. In addition, we offer a meeting every two weeks with the young person’s supporters so we can talk about what would be helpful for them outside of their time with our team. The goal is that our team can support young people to re-enter the right education or training for them or to join the workplace in the most suitable way for them. The programme is available on a self-pay basis or via EHCP funding where available.

If you would like to make a referral to the Together programme please contact silja.turville@acorntooakeducation.org