The recently published National Youth Strategy (Youth Matters) reports that we have the most digitally connected generation, and also the most isolated — highlighting a pressing need for social health and relational approaches. With Sport England focusing on young people from low‑income and under-served communities over the next five years, the timing is of this pilot is ideal— helping practitioners understand young people’s real‑life experiences and involving them in sport and physical activity in ways that work for them.
Therapeutic Youth Work through Sports Practice is a young‑person‑centred, trauma‑informed, and healing‑centred way of working. It priorities the vital interconnectivity between physical, mental and social health and wellbeing set out in Kim Leadbeater’s 2023 ‘Healthy Britain’ report, and is based in the community, not in clinical or medical settings.
The approach brings together key parts of the StreetGames method, including the Five Rights, Trauma‑Informed Work, and Sport Activation. The aim is to help practitioners build trusted relationships between young people and adults in sports clubs. These relationships help young people from low‑income backgrounds to access and enjoy sport, physical activity, and movement. The role of the trusted adult is central to improving mental health, supporting employability, and helping young people avoid entering the criminal justice system.
Many young people find it hard to access support. Therapeutic Youth Work through Sports Practice uses the concept of REACH to challenge the “hard to reach” label, which ignores the real and complex reasons why they might not take up sport or wellbeing services.
REACH stands for:
- Relationships
- Environments
- Activities
- Conversations
- Healing
Practitioners are encouraged to look at their own attitudes, approaches, beliefs and behaviours, and how these can either help or block young people’s access to sport, physical activity, and movement. The aim is to positively disrupt the context, conditions and commitment to change that shape young people’s experiences.
So far, two pilots have taken place in Gateshead and Stoke, bringing together practitioners from different sectors to explore and share what works best for young people. The pilot is particularly useful for project managers, project leads, system change partners & deliverers, and practitioners with an active interest in changing the current system to support a change anchored in hope and healing, through relational practice.
Feedback from participants highlights the importance and impact of this training:
“It was incredibly interesting and thought provoking … Youth work runs through everything I do, and opportunities like this are a reminder of how powerful and important that work really is. It also highlighted how essential it is that everyone working with children and young people has access to relevant, high-quality training.”
“Life changing and amazing — it’s given a totally new perspective on the way we approach things. This really is a course that is making a massive difference!”
The next pilot will take place in Warrington in July, and the feedback will help us improve the course so it remains useful and relevant in the future.
Thanks to further pots of funding, we are working with wider partnerships on the ground to provide more opportunities for our network to access this new piece of training. Community partners should keep an eye out for local opportunities through their regional team.
Read more about Therapeutic Youth Work in this article from our North West Place Director, Sally Carr MBE: https://www.youthandpolicy.org/articles/and-someone-to-talk-to-the-role-of-therapeutic-youth-work/