Definición operacional de las variables

The virtual locality form of provision is similar to the foot-in-foot-out approach in that mental health staff are seconded from CAMHS and spend half of their time in the YOT. The virtual locality format has a higher level of resources though with a small team of mental health workers, usually 3 or 4. Khan and Wilson were positive about this approach as it created a shared responsibility for cases, had good accessibility to services and mental health workers were supported. The provision in Woodshire most closely fitted this format; this did not mirror Khan and Wilson’s (2010) description as closely other teams had with other types of provision.

Khan and Wilson’s (2010) version of the virtual locality form of provision states that there are two “virtual teams” which was not found in Woodshire, but the provision fitted all other descriptive aspects of this form. There were three highly qualified mental health workers who were all part time within the YOT and had other roles elsewhere. William is a psychotherapist who also has a private practice, Emma, a counsellor who also works in CAMHS, and Phil, a mental health nurse who is also a member of CAMHS. William also managed mental health within the team, delivering supervision and solving disputes. Each of these persons also had specialist training and interests which had been worked into the provision. This allowed for a diverse level of specialty, and for both mental health workers to feel ‘shared ownership’ of cases when working with other agencies.

“actually there isn’t a health intervention that isn’t collaborative or co-constructed, so they take ownership of the intervention, as much as they want to and can.” – William, Woodshire

Woodshire had previously had problems with their mental health provision and the YOT decided to restructure their service and try to improve the situation. This led to the current mental health provision within the Woodshire YOT. William, the psychotherapist and manager for mental health within the YOT had been asked to help create the mental health provision to ensure it met the needs of both CAMHS and the YOS. This resulted in a contract being drawn up between the two agencies, discussing what was expected of the mental health workers and creating boundaries for their role. This was highly successful, and not only had this improved mental health provision; the approach was being used with other inter-agency relationships and William was meeting with other YOTs to discuss the approach with them.

“I know. [AREA NAME] team and their manager’s coming over this afternoon and they’ve got the same, they have a very different ethos, but they realise they need to change.” – William, Woodshire

A key aspect of Woodshire YOTs provision was that there were high levels of acceptance of the need for mental health provision and the need for YOT practice to accommodate social justice based approaches. This was largely due to the management within the YOT and the Head of Service’s approach.

“The organisation was run, was being run, by some very experienced social workers, they’ve been around for a very long time. But at some level got slightly disillusioned with child protection processes and wanted to get back more into, different kinds of social work, didn’t fit with that. So the ethos really built in from the top actually. And it’s been around for a long time here.” – William, Woodshire

The result of this is that Woodshire YOT had good levels of access to mental health services for young people, a variety of specialisms and good relationships with outside services, the mental health workers were supported and to a large extent the needs of young offenders were being met. This was one of the few YOTs that had a strong focus on preventative work. It was the only YOT in the research that had an explicit awareness of social justice, which may be due to

the Head of Service and YOT management having previously worked as social workers. This was a positive and created a culture within the team that removed many issues from practice, such as hostility or problems with working relationships. Not having these issues allowed members of staff in Woodshire not only to focus on preventative work, but also to consider more abstract features of their work and the approach they take.

“I mentioned before that I would find it very difficult to work in an environment that didn’t have that. So I kind of, it just kind of fits and, and maybe in a way I need to think about that a little bit more, because just fitting in within, with one’s own value and belief system can make you not very reflective about other positions.” – William, Woodshire

The virtual locality provision had allowed mental health workers to meet the basic needs of young offenders, and Woodshire YOT was working towards implementing preventative measures. This is positive, and shows that the aims of the YOT are being met in this area. Having three mental health workers on a part-time basis means that there is a constant presence in the YOT, making services accessible. It also means that informal discussion of cases can occur, which is positive. The relationship between the YOT and CAMHS was explicitly considered in Woodshire, which meant that many of the tensions between the two agencies had been addressed. That management in Woodshire had a social work background meant that there was a clear acceptance of approaches other than criminal justice and this seemed to be beneficial in practice.

“Definitely, because most of the senior criminal justice people here are very focused on social justice. They’re much more socially focused than they are criminally focused, much more. A lot of them are social workers, so, no, no, they’re very focused on alternatives to custody and interventions afterwards. Very focused on it. Which is why I like working here” – William, Woodshire