Detached Youth Work

What is it?

Detached youth work is a community-based approach that supports children and young people in public places where they are known to spend time. Engagement with detached youth workers is voluntary, meaning children and young people are free to choose whether and how to engage. This approach can also be used in places where children and young people may be at risk of being involved in violence or crime. The aims of detached youth work are varied and include building relationships between children and communities, safeguarding vulnerable children, supporting their mental health and wellbeing, and helping them to make positive choices.

Detached youth work is offered by youth organisations of many types, such as local authority youth services, charities, social enterprises, and faith groups.

Detached youth workers engage children and young people outside of home and school, where they socialise, such as housing estates, parks and shopping centres. It is a flexible and youth-centred approach, adapting to the needs and interests of children and young people. Outreach youth work is a similar approach, but it is primarily used to inform children and young people of services that exist in their community and to encourage them to use them.

The provision tends to be structured around face-to-face conversations between detached youth workers and children and young people. Detached youth work can also take the form of street-based projects or activities, such as street art or sports and outdoor games. Detached youth work is implemented for varying lengths of time and frequency.

There are several ways in which detached youth workers might support children and young people:

• Providing children and young people with a trusted adult and the time and space to talk about what is going on in their lives, and to help them to view issues from different perspectives.
• Highlighting what healthy, positive relationships look like, helping children and young people to build relationships with family, peers, school and in the community.
• Identifying and managing specific risks to children and young people’s physical and emotional safety. For example, reviewing local incidents or community tensions, recognising needs for support or signs of exploitation, knowing thresholds for referrals through safeguarding procedures, following agreed protocols for responding to and reporting critical incidents.
• Connecting children and young people to other services or support available.

Is it effective?

There is insufficient evidence to calculate an impact rating for detached youth work on reducing violence.  

The review summarises evidence from five studies. None of these studies measured the impact of detached youth work on violence.  

How secure is the evidence?

The research on the impact of detached youth work on violence is very weak. There is insufficient evidence to describe the average impact on violence.

The review found five studies that evaluated the implementation of detached youth work in England. The findings of these studies inform the ‘how can you implement it well?’ section below.  

How can you implement it well?

Recruit youth workers with local knowledge and relationships

Detached youth workers should either be from the area in which they are operating or have strong knowledge built up of the area through sustained involvement with it.

Perceptions of youth workers as having ‘credibility’ is critical to creating the foundations for building relationships with children and young people. Credibility can be based on having shared cultures, lifestyles, life views, languages, or interests. Detached youth workers gain credibility through involvement in community events, engaging and supporting locally credible community youth organisations, and being familiar with local spaces that children use. 

Build strong and trusting relationships with children and young people

Building strong and trusting relationships is the basis for children and young people being able to confide in detached youth workers and discuss sensitive topics and experiences that they would otherwise not tell others.

Respond and adapt to community needs and feedback

Detached youth work is more likely to engage children and young people at risk of involvement in violence or crime when it is responsive to their needs and the needs of the local community, and when it involves young people in the design of activities.

Put safety plans in place

Ensure detached youth workers have clear safety plans in place, outlining how youth workers will identify and manage risks, and how they will ensure the safety of the children and young people they work with, and the safety of themselves and their colleagues. For example, reviewing recent incidents in the area, logging expected routes and arrival and return times, always working in pairs, keeping mobiles charged, having emergency contacts available, having clear procedures for handling incidents or medical emergencies.

Keep local stakeholders informed

Local stakeholders, such as police and schools, need to be made aware of detached youth work approaches or activities. These agencies may provide information about when and where detached youth work may be needed, and frontline officers and staff may direct children and young people to sessions or activities where relevant.

How much does it cost?

On average the cost of detached youth work is likely to be low.

Costs can vary depending on how many children and young people engage with detached youth workers, but it typically costs less than £100 per child per year.

The main costs are likely to include the salary of detached youth workers, programme management and administration. Costs will vary depending on the frequency and length of the programme or activities on offer, and whether training is provided.

Topic summary

• Detached youth work aims to support children and young people in the locations that they spend time.
• There are very few evaluations of detached youth work, and we did not find any studies that measure effects on violence.
• Children and young people have shared that the credibility of youth workers is key to building relationships and trust, and that credibility is built through understanding the local context.
• Detached youth work is likely to be low cost.

Take away messages

• Consider detached youth work only in specific areas where children and young people are at-risk or already involved in violence, with a focus on identifying those that that are not engaged with other support services.
• Put in place effective collaboration between detached youth work and local partners to inform where these programmes or activities should be provided.
• Put in place signposting procedures for detached youth workers to help children and young people to access evidence-based and high-quality services, such as social and emotional skills development, mentoring, or clinically-led therapeutic interventions, for example Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.   

YEF projects and evaluations

Detached youth work feasibility study

YEF funded a feasibility study to explore the nature of detached youth work, what models of detached youth work exist and how widely they are used, whether it is distinct enough from other activities for evaluation.

External links

Detached and Outreach Youth Handbook
This handbook introduces, explains, or expands on existing knowledge regarding detached and outreach youth work.

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