E-bulletin, Issue 13, May 2014

It’s only days to go until the National Youth Justice conference (June 4-5), organised by CYCJ, NYJAG and the Scottish Government. We’re busily preparing to welcome speakers from across the UK for what should be a great opportunity to explore, discuss and reflect on youth justice practice.  Thank you to everyone who applied for a place and we deeply regret that there is not enough space for all those who applied to attend. We appreciate it’s no consolation but all the presentations and conference resources will be available to access on our website soon after, and if you’re on Twitter you can also follow the discussions live on #YJconf14. 

If you haven’t already noticed, our website has had a revamp.  Have a look - www.cycj.org.uk. Using your feedback, we’ve worked to make it easier for you to find and access resources and information.  It’s still a work in progress as we transfer over resources from our old days as CJSWDC, which we’ll be doing over the summer. Hopefully you’ll like the result as much as we do – we’d love to get your feedback.

This month we have held productive sessions with the Scottish Centre for Criminal Justice Research and CELCIS, to explore how we can connect and work together on shared agendas. Hopefully there will be some impressive progress to report on in future issues of this e-bulletin. We are keen to further develop our partnerships with those working on similar issues, to maximise our collective impact and avoid any duplication. Do get in touch if you want to explore how we can better work together.

Finally this month, we welcome Carole Dearie who joins us as Practice Development Advisor, who will be primarily focusing on improving the poor outcomes for girls and young women involved in the youth justice system.  She’s keen to spend her first few months meeting those of you grappling with these issues, to hear about your work and the current practice issues for you. Do get in touch if you think it would be helpful to meet with her.

Then last but not least our huge congratulations to our Practice Development Manager, Fiona Dyer, on the birth of her baby boy – our first CYCJ baby! We’re delighted to report that they are both doing well.

As always, happy reading! Remember to share your news, views and stories with us at cycj@strath.ac.uk.

Claire Lightowler
CYCJ Director

The redesign and revamp of our website is now complete. 

Developed using feedback from our stakeholder survey, we have designed the site so it’s more accessible for busy practitioners who need to access facts and resources with ease and speed.

We’ve hopefully made it easier for you to navigate your way around the site, locate what you’re looking for and sign up for events and training.  Selected themes, tags and targeted landing pages make it easier for you to locate specialised topics and learn about the latest news and developments relating to these.

Please be aware that the new site is in its early stages, with content still being added. We’re making it a priority to complete this, but if you are unable to locate what you need, contact us. We also welcome any feedback that will help us to continue improving our communications. Get in touch at cycj@strath.ac.uk.

You may have noticed that we are in the process of updating the youth justice practice guidance. This is to ensure it is relevant, accurate and meaningful for those using it, by incorporating the changes that have taken place since its last revision.

Due to the scale of this project, the new guidance will not be available until early autumn. However, an abbreviated brochure has been produced, giving an overview to each section. This will be available to view at www.cycj.org.uk/youthjusticeguide very soon. Sections will be added to this page as they are updated.

In the meantime, if you have any practice enquiries or need to access a particular section, please email cycj@strath.ac.uk or call 0141 444 8705.

CYCJ and volunteers from Children’s Hearing Services are developing a mock Children's Hearing for a group of American social work students on Wednesday, June 18. The students will be visiting from the University of Greensboro, North Carolina, on an exchange trip with the University of Strathclyde.

The hearing, which will take place at the University, will aim to show the complexity of cases that come before the Children's Panel in Scotland. If any practitioners would like to take part in this role play, please contact jill.mcafee@strath.ac.uk. Look out for more information, photos and video content in the next e-bulletin.

As part of our commitment to building connections and learning from others, CYCJ recently participated in sessions with two of our stakeholders.

We visited the University of Glasgow to meet with the Scottish Centre for Criminal Justice Research (SCCJR), followed by a meeting with CELCIS at the University of Strathclyde.

At each session, presentations were made and discussions held about developing ways of working together effectively, strengths and resources that can be shared and suggestions for future projects and collaborations. All were in agreement about the usefulness of these meetings, and it is hoped that similar events will be held with more of our stakeholders.

If you’d like your team to meet with CYCJ and learn more about what we do, please get in touch at cycj@strath.ac.uk.

In this month’s Factsheet, Nina Vaswani considers the bereavement experiences of 33 young men in custody, and how issues around grief and loss may further disadvantage an already vulnerable group in terms of outcomes and mental health. View it here.

Applications are now open for the Systemic Practice and Family Interventions training. The Scottish Government is supporting its Whole Systems Approach by funding training for youth justice social workers on an enhanced, professionally accredited course in Systemic Practice and Family Interventions.

The training will be delivered by the Family Therapy Training Network which has over 30 years’ experience in this field, and is supported and evaluated by CYCJ.

Read more and download the application form.

Work continues on the drafting of new guidance in relation to MRCs, in which CYCJ is taking a lead role and working with a group of practitioners.

The small group tasked with pulling together the draft met last month to finalise content before a meeting of the original, larger group at Victoria Quay which scrutinised the material in more detail. Revisions are now being made on the basis of feedback, with a view to a final document being available by the end of the month.

A PhD studentship opportunity has become available at the University of Strathclyde’s School of Social Work and Social Policy. 

This is funded by Capita IT Services, which is supporting four PhD studentships as part of its appointment as the University’s strategic technology partner. Additional funding is being provided by the University.

This PhD studentship was developed with a view of advancing understanding of the effective approaches to supporting young people who are not in education, training or employment (NEET) in times of austerity. It will be jointly supervised by Claire Lightowler, Director of CYCJ and Daniela Sime, senior lecturer in Sociology.  The successful candidate will receive an annual stipend of £13,863 and fees (up to the Home/EU rate only) will be covered.

Find out more. Please pass this on to anyone you think might be interested.

This month we welcome Carole Dearie, who takes on the role of Practice Development Advisor.

Carole joins us from the Good Shepherd Secure Unit for young people, where she was Deputy Head.  In her role, she will take responsibility for the Vulnerable Girls & Young Women Champions Group.

Congratulations to CYCJ Practice Manager Fiona Dyer, who gave birth to Lawson Peter Edgely on May 11, weighing 8Ib and 2oz.

Both mother and baby are home from hospital and doing well. If you’d like to send your best wishes, please contact cycj@strath.ac.uk and we’ll pass these on.

The Early & Effective Interventions (EEI) Champions Group met this month to agree the work plan for 2014/2015.

Key features include progressing the work of the three short life work streams that drafted recommendations on training options for EEI practitioners, minimum standards for core elements in EEI practice, and minimum menu of options for EEI disposals.

The group have agreed to update the current youth justice practice guidance on EEI for young people who offend to include the recommendations from the short life work streams.

The group are also planning a National EEI event for November 2014 and the launch of a newsletter to keep practitioners up to date, and are seeking volunteers to be part of a short life working group tasked with developing the youth justice material for an e-learning module as part of an EEI training package.  If you would like to volunteer to be part of this development group, please contact jill.mcafee@strath.ac.uk.

The Reintegration and Transitions Champions Group also met last month, ably chaired for the first time by Jane Kelly of Moray Council. The meeting also provided an opportunity for temporary CYCJ consultant Yvonne Robson to provide an update on the work she is doing in relation to transitions and the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014.

Minutes from both groups will be made available on our website.

Looking back

Want to know what a zombie fact is? Find out in the latest Raising Youth Justice blog post, which gives an account of the recent ‘No offence to ‘neds’: Exploring public perceptions and media reporting of young people involved in offending’ event.

Coming up…

Youth Justice Conference: June 4 and 5

The National Youth Justice Conference is only a few days away. A substantial amount of applications were received, which meant that it wasn’t possible to offer places to everyone who applied. However, you will be able to follow the action on Twitter through the hashtag #YJconf14 and all resources and podcasts will be placed on the website following the conference.

In the run up to the event, places that become available will be allocated to the names on our waiting list. Please note that we are not able to offer a place to anyone who comes to Dundee and is not on our list.

European Restorative Justice Conference

Practice Development Advisor David Orr is preparing to present at the European Restorative Justice conference: Beyond Crime: Pathways to Desistance, Social Justice and Peacebuilding’ in Belfast this June. Together with Jenny Johnstone, a Lecturer in Law at Newcastle University Law School and an Honorary Research Associate at the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, David will talk on ‘Restorative Justice in Scotland: at the crossroads?’

The Scottish Government has published the refreshed National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland, which is available here.

Songs written in Scottish Prisons will be shared at the Distant Voices gig, taking place in Glasgow on June 13. These will be performed by artists who have been taking part in the work of Vox Liminis, a project which uses arts-based interventions in helping offenders develop new ways to think differently about themselves, their relationships with others and their future place in society. Read more and buy a ticket.

A social work lecturer vacancy has arisen at the University of Strathclyde. The School of Social Work and Social Policy is looking for an experienced social work academic to contribute to research, teaching and knowledge exchange in social work. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the further development of social work education and research in the School. Read more.

The University of Edinburgh has received funding for a Collaborative PhD Studentship in association with the City of Edinburgh Council and the Risk Management Authority on the topic: ‘Examination of the practice skills for addressing sexual offending through groupwork’. Click here for further details and how to apply.

Nominations are now open for the Butler Trust’s 2014-15 Awards. Originally for prison staff, the Award Scheme has expanded to include staff working in probation, CJSW and, more recently, youth justice. The Awards are for people rather than projects, and while the Trust welcomes nominations for those who are doing something innovative, they are just as keen to hear about people doing their ordinary jobs extraordinarily well. Find out more and download an application pack.

In advance of our youth justice conference and its mental health theme on Day 2, read this interesting article on why England’s mental health services are failing children.

Welcome to our new feature, where we’ll introduce you to one of our stakeholders and give an overview of what they do, how they do it and who they do it for. If you’d like your service or organisation to be featured, please get in touch at cycj@strath.ac.uk.

This month the spotlight’s on: Positive Prison? Positive Futures

Positive Prison? Positive Futures is a community of interest based on the expertise of the lived experience of its members who have direct experience of the criminal justice system.

Its aim is to reduce offending and reoffending in Scotland, to help build safer communities, and to reduce harm to individuals, families and communities caused by offending. It offers advice and guidance to people in or affected by the criminal justice system to help them recognise their capacity to make their own decisions to connect with family, community and services to support a return to full citizenship. Find out more on the charity’s website.

Did you know? Positive Prison’s coordinator Pete White is a member of CYCJ’s Executive Governance Group and was a panellist for the recent ‘No offence to neds’ event.

If you’ve got something to say about youth justice matters, then why not say it via our blog? We’re always keen to hear from guest bloggers who’d like to contribute to our Raising Youth Justice blog.

Our team are also happy to share their expertise and experiences by writing guest blogs for other sites.

Interested? Please email cycj@strath.ac.uk.