WAVE (Worldwide Alternatives to ViolencE) is committed to reducing levels of serious youth violence in society by tackling the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) and trauma that often lies behind the behaviour. Find out more about our efforts to reduce violence by downloading this briefing here.

 

Tuesday, July 20, 2021

"Children should receive trauma informed intervention/s at the point of the adverse experience/s", according to an important new report funded by the Youth Justice Board.

Commissioned by Manchester’s Youth Justice Service, the report explores the nature and prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) within the youth justice cohort in Manchester, along with young people’s experiences of ACEs and Serious Youth Violence.

The recommendations in the report are for a national audience and aimed at all professionals working with children who have experienced ACEs - which, pre-Covid, was at least 50% of children, pre-Covid.

 

A trauma-informed system

The report calls for greater awareness of ACEs, recognition of trauma as well as trauma-informed practice training and support for Youth Justice Officers. It states:

“The identification of ACEs and subsequent delivery of trauma-informed interventions should not be the sole responsibility of the youth justice system. Children should receive trauma informed intervention/s at the point of the adverse experience/s.

"Schools, Children’s Services, and Health Services should be adequately funded and equipped by central government to embed trauma-informed practice into their services and organisations.

"If offered at an earlier stage in a child’s life, this could potentially reduce the number of children presenting to youth justice services for Serious Youth Violence offences and reduce the ‘staggering’ total economic and social cost of Serious Youth Violence."

You can read the full report here.

 

WAVE Trust: Target the early years to tackle serious violence

In 2005, WAVE Trust published our inaugural report, Violence and what to do about it. In it, we laid out why tackling early years ACEs in particular is instrumental reducing levels of serious violence in society.

Interested? Find out more by downloading our report here.