Available Outside Leeds

Youth Diversionary Workshops can also be delivered outside Leeds.

If you are commissioning in another area, contact us with your location, cohort size and requirements to discuss availability.

 

Early Help Partner for Youth Anti-Social Behaviour and Preventative Intervention

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Our short-form youth diversionary workshops are designed to address hotspot anti-social behaviour (ASB) and low-level youth disruption in Leeds.

Using the Firm Ground® methodology, sessions focus on the pressure underneath behaviour, decision-making, peer influence and how young people respond when they feel watched, challenged or encouraged by others.

The workshops provide an innovative Early Help intervention for local authorities and organisations looking for a practical way to engage young people before behaviour escalates further.

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Why We Deliberately Work With Young People in Groups

There can understandably be concern about bringing young people involved in anti-social behaviour together. Poorly structured groups can create opportunities for bravado, status-seeking or exchanging stories about offending.

Firm Ground® does not ignore that risk. The group dynamic is deliberately used as part of the intervention.

For many young people, one of the pressures influencing behaviour is what other people think.

Wanting approval, avoiding embarrassment, trying to look fearless, following the group, proving yourself or not wanting to appear weak can all influence decisions.

Removing young people from their peers completely removes one of the very pressures we need to understand.

The workshop therefore creates a controlled environment where peer pressure, group identity and the need for approval can be observed and challenged in real time.

The purpose is not to bring young people together to discuss crime.

It is to change what earns status in the room.

Prosocial decisions, self-control, confidence, kindness, independent thinking and the ability to resist pressure are deliberately made visible within the group.

That allows young people to experience something different: gaining recognition from their peers for making stronger choices rather than for disruption.

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Not Another Lecture About Behaviour

Young people usually already know which behaviours adults consider unacceptable.

Simply telling them again does not explain why they continue doing them.

Firm Ground® looks beneath the behaviour.

Young people explore:

• what pressure they are carrying

• what happens to their thinking when pressure rises

• how much other people's opinions influence their decisions

• when they follow the group despite knowing better

• what triggers reactive decisions

• how their behaviour affects other people

• what gives them a sense of belonging, recognition or status

This turns the workshop from a lesson about “behaving better” into an opportunity to understand what is actually driving their choices.

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Designed for Early Intervention

The workshops can be used with young people involved in, or at risk of becoming involved in:

• anti-social behaviour

• low-level offending

• neighbourhood disruption

• repeated complaints

• peer-led risky behaviour

• disengagement from school or community

• escalating conflict with adults

• behaviour that is beginning to attract police or local authority attention

The aim is to intervene while there is still an opportunity to change direction — before low-level behaviour becomes more entrenched.

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Firm Ground® provides high-intensity, prosocial group sessions designed to help at-risk young people re-engage positively with their communities.

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More Than a One-Off Workshop

Unlike many short-form youth workshops, Firm Ground® does not end when the session finishes.

Young people receive access to the Firm Ground network for 6 weeks, giving them continued guidance after the workshop.

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At 12 weeks, we complete a further check-in with the young person to make sure they are doing okay, confirm that changes are being maintained and identify any emerging concerns. Should additional input be needed, this can be fed back to the commissioning council with a recommendation for next steps.

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.This creates a clear gap between the end of the intervention and the follow-up point, while also helping identify potential problems before they are displayed through behaviour.