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Youth Offending Team| Youth Offending Team | Youth Offending Team
Geographical Area: Staffordshire County (not including Stoke-on-Trent)
Age Range Min: 10
Age Range Max: 17
Gender Specific: No
| Culturally Specific: No
Method of Access: Automatic referral for any young person entering the criminal justice system with a substance misuse issue.
| | Description | Staffordshire County has three Youth Offending Teams, based in Lichfield, Stafford and Newcastle, all are multi-disciplinary, made up of experienced personnel from the County’s Social Services and Education Departments, Staffordshire Police and local Health and Probation Services.
Each team has its own drugs worker and there is a drugs co-ordinator who liaises between the YOT and the Drugs Team. Through the multi-agency approach of the YOT, the drugs team are able to offer a wide range of Tier 1 - 3 services, which include structured interventions, educational work and diversionary activities designed to empower each young person, take them off the streets where they may easily offend again, and to lessen the effects of peer pressure.
A wide range of approaches to counselling are used depending on the young person, if there is a need for treatment, then referral protocols are in place to refer to the tier 3 Outreach team at ADSIS. Close links with the local Youth and Community services allows young people to feed into any appropriate activities that may be running including the Positive Futures scheme in Chasetown. The team drugs workers are also able to support and sign post on to other appropriate agencies such as Connexions and health and housing agencies should this be needed. If this does happen then the YOT drugs worker will remain the key worker and follow each offender through the system enabling a continuity of care that they feel assists each young person. | | Staff Profile | | 3 Drugs workers and a Co-ordinator | | Linked Organisations | | ADSIS, Positive Futures, Youth and Community, Connexions |
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