Working with our members, we promote the YIACS model as part of local services for young people everywhere.
Youth Access is the national membership organisation for young people's information, advice and counselling services (YIACS). YIACS are organisations rooted in local communities all over the country that provide free, easily accessible and age-appropriate support to young people aged 11-25 with a wide range of issues.
YIACS are driven by the needs of young people, not arbitrary targets and check-boxes, and their approach has young people’s rights at its heart. YIACS routinely help young people from marginalised groups who might not otherwise be receiving support, including looked-after children, young people with experience of the criminal justice system, LGBTQ+ young people., refugees and young people from BAME backgrounds. YIACS recognise that young people face particular challenges as they transition into adulthood, providing effective support to teenagers and young adults who would otherwise fall through the gaps between children and adult’s mental health services.
Local, community-based and accessible services are key to meeting young people’s mental health needs. But YIACS see young people as more than just a mental health diagnosis, and support them with a wide range of issues, providing advice and information services that can help young people access their rights and entitlements, and address the social determinants of mental health.
With proper backing and funding from government, YIACS could do so much more in providing high quality and effective services to young people for whom there is an urgent and growing need for age appropriate mental health and wellbeing services. That’s why we work with our members to promote the YIACS model to service commissioners and policy-makers to encourage investment in a model of support that ensures all young people have somewhere to turn to, and someone to talk to, wherever and whenever they are in need.
Youth Access YIACS are present in local communities across the UK. They have generally grown out of a ‘bottom-up’ development process without central direction from government, and thus vary greatly in the type and scope of services that they offer. Their independence and ability to adapt to the local context are absolutely vital, but there are some key characteristics and functions that they all share.
We have identified the following core functions of YIACS. These are the functions that are the priority for the YIACS model, and may be delivered through a range of delivery structures:
Initial contact point for young people
Young person-centred assessments
Information, advice and/or advocacy on rights-related matters
Advice, support and/or advocacy on health and wellbeing
Young people’s feedback, involvement and participation
Safeguarding young people’s welfare
Local and national partnership working
Signposting and referral
Monitoring and evaluation
Evidence-informed one to one psychological therapies
Access to young person-friendly information
A multi-disciplinary, competent workforce
We have also identified additional functions of YIACS. These bring added value to young people, though they are not essential to the model (though they may be for young people):
Opportunities for young people to share and learn together
Integrating specialist provision
Telephone and online help and support
Intensive/specialist housing support
Outreach services and activities
While not all Youth Access members can offer this full range of services due to commissioning barriers, local circumstances and individual areas of focus, this is the gold standard to which YIACS should strive.
YIACS’ main purpose is to offer an integrated approach to young people’s health and wellbeing concerns through a unique combination of prevention, early intervention and crisis work. The services are underpinned by a common set of values and principles.
YIACS’ relationships with young people are led by young people and offered on the basis of:
Trust and respect
Honesty and consistency
Hope and optimism
The principles that all YIACS adhere to are:
YIACS are open access and respond to all young people regardless of the nature, complexity or severity of their initial concerns or needs
YIACS are young person-centred and available on a self-referral basis
YIACS offer a safe and confidential environment in which young people can seek help and support
YIACS are provided flexibly to reflect young people’s changing needs as they make the transition to adulthood
YIACS are responsive to the different communities of young people they serve
YIACS uphold and advocate for young people’s rights and support young people to have a voice in the decisions and issues that impact on them
YIACS are committed to delivering best practice by offering high quality, evidence-informed services through appropriately trained and competent staff
YIACS recognise their duty to be accountable to all their stakeholders, particularly the local communities in which they operate
At Youth Access we believe in the power of young people to shape their own futures, and support them to campaign for transformational change to deliver the services and systems that meet their needs and fulfil their rights. We practice what we preach by supporting young people to raise their voice and influence how services are designed and run.
Our Altogether Better charter was created in partnership with over 200 young people from across the country, and outlines how services can deliver a young person-friendly mental health and wellbeing service. Since the charter was created in 2018, we have worked with our members to promote the charter, and pilot a scheme for young people to give feedback to services based on their adherence to the charter’s principles.
In times of crisis, as statutory services struggle to adapt to changing needs, it is often the voluntary sector left picking up the pieces. The Covid-19 crisis has been no different. YIACS have led the sector in innovating to quickly pivot to offer remote and digital services to ensure that young people continued to receive the support they needed.
As we emerge from coronavirus lockdown, the mental health system faces the challenge of unprecedented levels of demand for support at a time when accessing traditional services is more difficult than ever. Empowering YIACS to extend their young person-centred services to even more young people, and build on the innovations of lockdown to offer a blended model of service delivery that offers face-to-face support alongside remote interventions, will be key if we want our coronavirus recovery to respect young people’s human rights.
Supporting these organisations will require, at a minimum, flexible, ringfenced funding, training in adapted models of working for practitioners and a commitment to giving them a seat at the table in mental health planning at a local and national level.
