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Effective relational working in youth justice
An evidence-informed model and guide for effective relational working in youth justice

Academic Insight

The latest (24 January 2025) Academic Insight publication from HM Inspectorate of Probation  presents an evidence-informed model and guide for effective relational working in youth justice. Authored by Eóin O’Meara Daly, Jackie Dwane, Caitlin Lewis and Seán Redmond, the report presents findings from a three-year top-down/bottom-up action research project undertaken in Ireland which examined effective relationship building between youth justice practitioners and crime-involved young people. 

Relational practice

As readers will know, relational practice is at the heart of youth justice work, and the project has led to the co-creation of a Relationship Model (and accompanying guidance) which can be used as a reflective resource by practitioners and their managers. The model includes:

  • a base layer of creating safety;
  • a core layer of ‘trust, time, support and being young person centred’; and
  • seven grouped skills, attributes, and methods that can be applied at various points – these are approaches which encourage practitioners to ‘be fully committed, communicate with empathy, make connections and advocate, be flexible, practice use of self and reflection, be honest and challenge constructively’ and finally, ‘guide, inspire hope and build agency’.

The model does not attempt to account for every eventuality, recognising that relationships by their nature are dynamic and diverse, but crucially it does provide evidence-informed signposts and pointers for youth justice practitioners to follow when trying to build successful and effective relationships.

Key findings

The YDP Relationship Model reproduced below is a visual depiction of the approaches that practitioners described, referred to by many of those involved in the research as ‘the relationship journey’.

Foundational concepts

Three foundational concepts were described by practitioners as central to the efforts of building effective relationships. These concepts are represented in the model as the base and core layers and are: creating a safe culture; building trust, giving time, and support & being young person centred.

Practitioners also identified seven characteristics they associated with effective relationship building which you can see in the table I have reproduced below. These seven characteristics encompass individual skills, attributes, and methods that practitioners can apply in their face-to-face contact with young people.

Conclusion

This is a valuable model for youth justice work and the Department of Justice in Ireland has funded the scaling out and dissemination of it and the related guidance to all youth justice teams across the country.

The authors are transparent in acknowledging that there is no ‘magic bullet’ for impactful relational working. They recognise that it is a continually emerging craft skill and that practitioners will still need to use intuition and experience to build successful relationships that will improve outcomes for young people.

However, youth justice practitioners can now make reasonable assumptions about effective practice by reference to the guidance.

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