About the project
Hospital navigators use the ‘teachable moment’ of hospital attendance for violent injury to engage young people at risk of further involvement in violence. The nature of support offered is tailored to the individual, but typically involves community-based pastoral and social support and signposting towards relevant services. Though the approach has been widely adopted, evidence on hospital-based interventions in the UK is limited.
Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit have commissioned voluntary sector organisations to deliver navigator interventions across five hospitals over 18 months. We’ve commissioned a multi-site trial evaluation to help us find out more about how effectively these programmes prevent children and young people from becoming involved in violence in the future. The evaluation is starting with a feasibility stage which will inform whether we progress to a pilot phase.