Face It
A social and emotional skills development programme for 11-16 year olds.
Evaluation type
Funding round
Targeted projectsActivity Type
Setting
Evaluator
Completed
October 2025| Project | Funding | Region |
|---|---|---|
| Khulisa | £264,417 | London |
What does this project involve?
Face It is a school-based social and emotional skills development programme designed for children aged 11-16 at risk of offending, exploitation, and school exclusion. It aims to develop a range of social and emotional skills, including emotional regulation and self-awareness, and encourages pupils to reflect on the root causes and triggers of their disruptive or challenging behaviour.
The intervention is delivered by Khulisa, a youth mental health charity, over six weeks. Participants in this project were aged 13-15 (in Years 9 and 10) and were referred by teachers due to displaying externalising behaviours and elevated risk of involvement in violence. The six-week programme includes an initial one-to-one session and group session, where facilitators aim to build a sense of safety and empower children to decide whether they want to proceed. This is followed by an intensive 5-day programme, where facilitators use a variety of activities (including art and storytelling) to identify the children’s habits and triggers, practice new skills, and build their self-esteem. The programme ends with another group session, and a final one-to-one session to reflect on the child’s progress. Each programme is tailored to participant’s needs and delivered by therapeutically trained facilitators (typically in art or drama-therapy), who also receive dedicated training and ongoing clinical supervision.
Why did YEF fund this project?
YEF surveying of teenage children shows that 7 in 10 children who perpetrate violence say that they did so because they were provoked (CVV, 2023). Clearly, to address this, we must aim to build their social and emotional skills. We also know that social and emotional development programmes (both universal and targeted) have been shown to reduce children’s involvement in crime (as evidenced by the YEF Toolkit). However, we require better evidenced programmes in a UK context.
YEF and Stuart Roden, therefore, funded the Ending Youth Violence Lab to conduct a pilot evaluation of Face It. It aimed to assess the deliverability, acceptability, and evaluability of the programme, in addition to exploring whether it showed any early promise. The evaluation piloted a two-armed randomised control trial. It also aimed to recruit 160 children across five schools but was ultimately only able to recruit two schools. Although 98 children were initially referred, only 67 children ultimately participated from the two schools. Of these, 36 were randomised to receive the programme, and 31 received support as usual. Among participants, 62% were from a Black background, 17% from a Mixed/Multiple ethnicity background, and the remaining were White, Asian, or other minority groups (numbers too small to report for anonymity reasons).
The evaluation collected quantitative data, including programme data on participation, facilitator fidelity reports, satisfaction surveys and a range of outcome measures, including the self-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and Self-reported delinquency scale (SRDS), as well as parent/caregiver survey, attendance and exclusion data. Outcome measures were collected at three points: the baseline, at the end of the programme and 3-months after the end of the programme. Qualitative data was also collected through participatory groups of children from a school where Khulisa had previously delivered Face It and semi-structured interviews with 13 young people who received the programme, four control group pupils, four Khulisa facilitators, two Khulisa managers, and two school staff (one per school). The study took place between April 2023 and July 2025.
Key conclusions
| There were significant difficulties in recruiting schools, with only two schools successfully recruited (40% of the target). Of the two schools recruited, one dropped out before delivery could begin with the second cohort. Therefore, only one school was retained throughout the study. |
| Despite recruitment challenges, Khulisa facilitators reported that activities were delivered with high fidelity (with over 75% of key activities conducted and 88% of children completing the core five-day programme). |
| Evaluation feasibility was mixed. Once schools were on board, it was possible to recruit children and carry out randomisation. However, attrition was high (36% post-programme, rising to 46% at three-month follow-up), some evaluation methods (e.g. self-report surveys) were unpopular and parent/caregiver engagement was very limited. |
| The programme was found to be acceptable and valued by children and school staff. The small number of children and staff who were interviewed and completed surveys perceived that Face It could improve emotional regulation, behaviour, social skills and well-being. |
| Given the challenges faced by the evaluation (particularly in recruiting schools), Face It is not yet ready for a full-scale RCT. An RCT may be feasible if fundamental changes are made to the way schools are recruited to the programme. |
What will YEF do next?
Given the challenges faced in this pilot trial, YEF has no current plans to proceed with further evaluation.