As Children’s Mental Health Week begins, Rob from Hull and East Yorkshire Mind reflects on his role as a counsellor for Mind, and the work they do with Hull Youth Justice Service.
With Place2Be’s Children’s Mental Health Week upon us – and next month marking the three-year anniversary of Hull and East Yorkshire Mind’s partnership with Hull Youth Justice – I’ve taken some time to reflect on what a privilege it has been to work alongside such a dedicated, passionate, and professional team.
What continues to impress me most is the shared commitment that every individual within the Hull Youth Justice team demonstrates. It’s a commitment focused on one clear goal: supporting young people and their families through the challenges they face. And while we all bring different skills and roles to the table, our mission remains the same, to help each young person find a better path forward.
In my role as a counsellor, I work with young people to support their emotional wellbeing and help them manage the daily struggles that can impact their mental health. Many of these young people are initially identified by the dedicated Hull Youth Justice Practitioners and Officers, who recognise when someone might benefit from having a safe space to talk.
As a member of the Youth Offending Panel, I find these early discussions within meetings extremely valuable, as they provide an opportunity to discuss if counselling may benefit the young person. They also allow me to gain an initial insight into the young person.
For many young people, the idea of “counselling” or “therapy” can feel daunting and it’s completely natural for them to feel nervous about meeting someone new. Instead of jumping straight into sessions, we often meet in different settings such as the Kastor Centre, schools, charity premises or Kenworthy House, with the Youth Justice Practitioner /Officer for an informal meeting.
This allows us to simply meet up and have a chat, to explain what counselling is (and isn’t), and how it might help them in their current situation. From there, the young person can make an informed choice. By taking this approach, we’ve been able to remove some of the barriers that can make access to counselling feel intimidating.
This partnership is ongoing and takes place daily, ranging from responding to concerns about the young person – particularly in relation to safeguarding, to accompanying them to appointments until they feel confident enough to attend independently.
We’ve also allowed Youth Justice Practitioners to be present during sessions where appropriate, supporting the young person until they feel comfortable engaging in sessions on their own.
We recently established the Wellbeing and Communications Team, which meets every other Thursday. The team includes a Speech and Language Practitioner and a Mental Health Nurse who provide dedicated time to meet with the Youth Justice Practitioner/Officer to discuss cases in greater depth. These meetings allow us to identify the young person’s priorities and determine, collaboratively, where referrals would be most appropriately placed to best support the young person.
I feel proud of what we’ve achieved together and incredibly hopeful for what’s to come. Working in partnership with Hull Youth Justice continues to be a rewarding journey one. And it reminds me every day of the power of collaboration, compassion, and genuine care for the wellbeing of young people.
For more information on Hull and East Yorkshire Mind, click here.
To find out more about Children’s Mental Health Week, click here.
Click here to visit the Youth Justice Resource Hub.