What is an integrated service anyway?

The APYCO 2008 conference is all about making integration work - but again integration seems to be one of those terms that is tricky to define.

With integration happening in 149 different ways across the country, what is the essence of integration and an integrated youth support service.

Here is what Fiona Blacke, NYA Chief Executive had to say in a short video interview:

Ross Little, Senior Information Officer at the NYA, argues that we need to make sure we’re collecting the right information to be able to track and learn from the diverse transitions to integrated youth support across the UK.

If the government are not measuring something, then that something can easily get lost. There may be a role for the NYA in collecting the information that helps services identify the different roles youth work is playing in integrated services.

Quick questions

• What is your definition of integrated youth support services?
• What should The NYA and others be measuring to make sure we keep track of the youth work role in the future of Integrated Youth Support Services?

Is the street a place to go?

In this morning’s presentations, Dee O’Connell spoke about street based outreach that forms part of the Youth Crime Action Plan.

Dee talked about how this was similar to Detached Youth Work - but some of the table-based discussions sought to explore the difference.

The street based work in the youth crime action plan seems to be about getting young people off the street - but detached youth work can recognise that the street is not always to move young people on from, but can be a space where we can work with young people.

So, when we are talking about Places to Go and Things to Do for young people, can the street be amongst places to go?