Team Manager Includem ADAPT
Includem’s ADAPT service has been accepting referrals since 2020. (You can find out more about the Includem service through their 2021 article ‘Finding Lost Hope – Includem’s Youth Justice ADAPT Service: One Year on’.
During 2022-2023, the service supported 36 young people and families across Glasgow.
One young person who was supported by the ADAPT service was Alex* (name changed to protect their identity). Alex had been referred to the service after receiving a vandalism charge with the ADAPT team working with them to pause and reflect on what had led them to receiving this charge.
From the outset, Includem’s ADAPT service worked to build a trusting relationship with Alex. Their worker going above and beyond to make sure Alex felt comfortable and always supported, recognising the need for support. In a short time, this led to Alex feeling confident and comfortable to disclose to their ADAPT worker that their behaviour was a result of their use of alcohol and the peers that he surrounded themselves with.
Through their strong relationship with their worker, they disclosed that their use of alcohol had been a coping measure for dealing with significant trauma they had recently experienced, identifying that this had resulted in their mental health being at an all-time low and left them feeling unsafe in their own community. The ADAPT team worked quickly to support Alex, supporting them to ask their GP for a referral for counselling and further support with their mental health through the Glasgow City Youth Health Service.
The ADAPT team continued to support Alex to understand the impact of their alcohol consumption on their behaviour and to become aware of what their limits were. They also discussed the impact of having healthy relationships with Alex understanding that their current peer group was impacting their decision making and coming to the decision to surround themselves with more positive influences.
Since working with ADAPT, Alex significantly reduced their alcohol consumption and actively surrounded themselves with more positive role models. They were also supported by their ADAPT worker to link in with social work and housing support worker to develop a safety plan for them in their community with Alex making applications to housing associations within areas they desired to move to. With the recent changes in their life, Alex has felt more comfortable to engage with training being supported by ADAPT to explore different opportunities. They are currently awaiting a start date for Launchpad / CLES courses where they will identify further courses / jobs they may be interested in.
With Alex engaging in every step of their Includem ADAPT journey, their worker was confident in their recommendation to social work that Alex did not require our further input on the referred charge and that they had successfully completed their Diversion from Prosecution Programme and had not picked up any further charges. To ensure they had further support for their mental health, Alex was referred to Victim Support and to Volunteer Glasgow’s befriending scheme, enabling them to have on-going community support as they moved on from the ADAPT service. One Glasgow also make referrals to the Includem Adapt Service, you can read more about One Glasgow in the article ‘One Glasgow Building on a Solid Foundation’.
Andrew Forrester, Team Leader, Youth Justice Intensive Support & Monitoring Services commented:
“Diversion from Prosecution is an alternative to prosecution which is generally used for less serious offences – sometimes referred to as low-tariff in that it would unlikely attract a community or custodial sentence of any length and there is no overriding public interest in prosecution.
Diversion from Prosecution provides an option for the Procurator Fiscal to deal with someone accused of low-level offences outwith the court system and is a key tool in reducing the risk that a young person will re-offend.
The young person will be required to work with a Criminal/ Youth Justice Social Worker or other agency to address the problem areas of their lives that are underlying or contributing to their offending behaviour. In such cases, the person will receive appropriate support and the opportunity to avoid a potential criminal conviction.
Includem’s Adapt service is one of a number of services that Social Work or the Fiscal Service might refer a young people to. The young person must:
• Broadly accept the details of the charge against them;
• Agree that there are problem areas in their life; and
• Agree to work with Social Work and other agencies to address these difficulties.
If the young person does not agree with the above, the Procurator Fiscal may prosecute the case in the normal way. Participation is voluntary:
• it does not count as a conviction; and
• failure to co-operate may lead to the case being prosecuted.”
From 01/04/22 to 31/03/23 a total of 148 16 & 17 year-olds were referred to Diversion from Prosecution, for a range of offences totalling of 272.
