Council wins prestigious award for transforming youth justice services
The service beat other finalists, Lincolnshire, South Norfolk and Westminster council’s to the top slot this year. Lewisham has completely remodelled the Youth Justice Service, taking on an innovative and unique new way of working which is based on a trauma-informed approach, restorative justice and unconscious bias.
What we did
A key feature of the Council’s new way of working is about the focus on the way the service is offered, this means:
- safety – creating spaces where young people feel culturally, emotionally and physically safe
- transparency and trustworthiness – full and accurate information about what’s happening and what's likely to happen next to an individual
- choice – an approach that honours an individual’s dignity
- voice – creating the opportunity where the individual’s views, opinions and feelings are heard and acknowledged
- collaboration and mutuality – shared decision-making
- empowerment – recognition of an individual’s strengths to both build upon them.
How we did it
To make this happen, the Council embarked on a comprehensive programme of learning, development and change across the whole of the Youth Justice Service. The Youth Justice Management Board have also undertaken training on the trauma-informed approach and there have been a series of workshops delivered to partners to highlight and address unconscious bias.
Councillor Brenda Dacres, Cabinet Member for Safer Communities, said:
“The Youth Justice Service has completely transformed the way it operates. This dedicated team of officers really threw themselves into learning about, and creating, a better ways of engaging with young people. This couldn’t be a better way to recognise their hard work, time and shear effort they have put in to support some of the most vulnerable and at risk members of our society.”