One Glasgow Reducing Offending, Police Scotland, Safer Communities, Greater Glasgow Division
One Glasgow is a multi-agency partnership which is led by Police Scotland and funded by Glasgow’s Community Planning Partnership to co-ordinate and monitor progress of the Whole Systems Approach for young people. Its aim is to focus on those aged under 25 who are involved in, or a risk of becoming involved in, the criminal justice system.
The Whole Systems Approach in Glasgow to reduce reoffending in young people is underpinned by the national Youth Justice Strategy – Preventing Offending – Getting it Right for Children & Young People (GIRFEC). The One Glasgow Partnership is an example of this strategy and our Whole Systems Approach in action.
Put simply, a Whole Systems Approach is about identifying all of the parts of services which are linked or inter-related (i.e. where a change to one part affects another) and bringing these components (be they financial resources, people resources, skills & knowledge, different organisations) together. This allows for collaborative planning and delivery which enhances value of all of the parts of the system, with a shared vision – in our case reducing the risk of re-offending by young people.
- Collectively form an understanding of the issue, context and wider system.
- Create a plan for action collaboratively with a wide set of stakeholders. Actions should be aligned and jointly prioritised.
- Learn and refine as you go by involving stakeholders and embedding monitoring and evaluation. Considering the ‘so what?’ and ‘now what?’.
Our service provides the scaffolding for young people to help them get on the right course with a tailored approach shaped around each individual. We achieve this by working collectively with a shared vision, joint understanding of a person-centred approach and by combining the expertise of the involved agencies. Our unique combination of Police Officers, Social Workers, 3rd sector agencies and Glasgow City Council Community Justice Team equips us to provide specialist insight into the world of Youth Justice.
The One Glasgow Partnership currently provides referral pathways with Includem ADAPT, the Action for Children Side Step programme, Glasgow City Council’s Youth Justice Social Work’s Supporting Transitions and Reintegration Service (STARS) and Intensive Support and Monitoring Service (ISMS) / Alternative to Remand (ATR).
A Case Study – Action for Children – Side Step- Sam Rodger, Service Manager – Many of the young people who join our service have experienced adverse childhood experiences such as parental imprisonment, neglect, or addictions in the home.
Sixteen-year-old, Josh* was referred onto the project in July 2022 having been charged on two separate occasions in June for drugs offences. There was also credible information he was involved in drug dealing for approximately 6 months and known for carrying knives.
On referral from One Glasgow, Josh was not in education, employment, or training. He was suffering from anxiety due to poor mental health and significant cannabis use. Therefore, our focus was to remove barriers to enable him to access opportunities, build confidence, self -esteem and reduce his offending. Staff supported Josh for 8 months, meeting with him twice a week. He was extremely open to the support and fully engaged in all sessions. Side Step also provided family support as Josh’s Mum suffered from poor health. Some of the family support that was provided: accessing appropriate benefits, signposting to community resources, providing financial support through our crisis fund and emotional support when needed.
Josh engaged in focus work to improve his anxiety, building self-esteem and confidence which allowed him to think positively about his future and consider enrolling in employability opportunities. During these sessions staff also focused on drug awareness, consequential thinking and positive choices as his risk-taking behaviour was having a negative impact on his life.
In Sep 2022, Josh enrolled in Street League but soon realised he was interested in construction and opted to change course to a Tigers construction programme. Side Step staff supported Josh to attend, liaising with the employability team to ensure he was receiving the appropriate support and there were no concerns. Josh completed this programme and received positive feedback on his performance, therefore Side Step referred him onto Action for Children’s YouthBuild employability construction course where he gained essential certificates such as PASMA, CSCS, Abrasive Wheel and Site Safety Awareness allowing him to access valuable work experience with a construction company and hopefully progress into employment.
In February 2023, Josh continued to attend YouthBuild and was receiving the adequate support from his worker on this course, he had distanced himself from his negative peers and instilled structure and routine into his week. This routine and structure had a positive impact on his cannabis use which reduced due to filling his time positively. Most importantly, Josh’s offending also reduced significantly and there was no longer concern he was drug dealing, therefore was closed from Side Step and continues his personal development.
*Not his real name
One Glasgow Review – Following a period of significant development across the youth justice system in Scotland- including legislative changes such as the Age of Criminal Responsibility and General Data Protection Regulations, policy commitments such as The Promise and Young Person’s Guarantee, One Glasgow seized the opportunity to reflect and future proof our service by commissioning an independent review by a Strathclyde University graduate student.
Views were captured from a variety of key stakeholders including members of the Glasgow Youth Justice Strategy group, the third sector, education, social work, Glasgow City Council and police.
This process provided a wealth of information from our partners across services which assisted in understanding the current strengths, challenges and the future opportunities for our project.
This work has shaped our future vision to ensure we continue to provide positive outcomes and destinations for young people who require a scaffolding of support and help.
One Glasgow was shown to have a positive impact on the whole systems public health approach with respondents indicating the service supports overarching goals in Early Effective Intervention, Diversion from Persecution and Re-Integration/Transition to the community following leaving prison or secure care.
Quotes from our partners of the impact which One Glasgow has on services in the city:
“The communication and regular updates with One Glasgow allow us to have a better insight into our young people and their offending, providing a more in-depth knowledge.”
“I feel that allowing external organisations to join meetings, learn more about the organisation, contribute and receive advice has been highly beneficial. Some groups tend not to allow external organisations access and I strongly believe that by allowing this you have provided us with an opportunity to develop a programme that benefits all.”
“The partnership approach which pulls on the various strengths of partners is key and means the most complete picture is available.”
“Feedback on re-offending behaviour of young people in the community assists partners’ awareness to escalate intervention to effect change.”
“Having a focus on youth offending through a dual approach from social work and police has allowed for faster information sharing, intelligence gathering, and referral to relevant agencies. In turn resulted in Early & Effective Intervention (EEI) cases being identified/referred, potential for high-risk offenders to be identified and supported at the earliest possible stage, connecting across Glasgow and promoting multi agency working.”
“Having One Glasgow’s input in our service has allowed us to meet the needs of the young people and support them to reduced or stop offending behaviour and divert them from serious and organised crime.”
Looking to the future – Building on our solid foundation, the outlook for the future is positive, and we continue to develop our service to widen provision across the Glasgow city area. We have been working closely across services in the city and will be inviting third sector youth service providers and youth justice practitioners together for a “Let’s Get Connected” event in the second half of 2023. The event will bring services together under one roof for sharing of best practices, short workshops by various agencies providing information on their services and a platform for networking opportunities across the youth justice sector. This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase the excellent work being delivered across the city and forge new and exciting collaborations for the future.
We have been working tirelessly to continue to raise awareness of the One Glasgow Project by engaging with numerous stakeholders across the city. We have been delivering awareness workshops across the youth justice sector. This has allowed us to engage a varied scope of operational practitioners, enhancing partnership links and has given us the opportunity to share our experience with the wider youth justice network.
Continual work is ongoing to increase our referral routes to ensure we meet the needs of young people and can provide effective support. We are in the process of supporting third sector agencies with funding bids for bespoke, tailored youth services to meet the diverse needs of young people across the city.
The future is bright for One Glasgow, and we encourage anyone who wants more information on our service or who wants to be part of our continued journey to get in touch:
OneGlasgowReducingOffending@scotland.police.uk
One Glasgow through the years – For further exploration of the One Glasgow Partnership please see our articles in previous editions of the Community Justice Glasgow Partnership Annual Reporter CLICK ON THE PICTURE LINKS BELOW:
