Appendix 4 Principles and Practical Criteria to Guide Participant Targeting

Young people to be targeted for participation include:

• young people who are 'at risk' - this is a ministerial directive
• young people who need to develop foundational competencies, habits, values and so forth (such as motivation, confidence, self esteem, productive life habits and routines etc) in order to successfully participate in employment, training or further education
• young people who lack strong attachments to pro-social settings, who appear likely to form attachments to anti-social settings, or who have already formed attachments to 'low level' anti-social settings
• young people who, in the potential absence of employment opportunities (ie in the current economic climate), need intensive activation in pro-social settings in order to avoid general inactivity or forming attachments to anti-social settings.

Young people to be excluded include:

• those who already have the environmental supports they need to make a successful transition to adulthood
• those who are struggling but whose needs are predominantly around employment or employment-related training (in which case, ETE programmes would be more suitable)
• those who are struggling but whose needs are predominantly educational (eg literacy or ESOL-related) and there are not significant flow-on effects that would seriously hinder the young person's development
• those who are struggling but require a less intensive youth development response (the appointment of a mentor, for example, may be sufficient here)
• those with established and significant offending habits (including a history of violent behaviour)
• those people with serious drug and/or alcohol habits
• those whose behaviour is likely to pose a safety risk to other young people on the programme or to programme staff
• young people who have been referred by an agency wanting them placed in an activity but who have no desire or intention of participating in a meaningful way
• those whose behaviour is likely to negatively impact on the group norms to the extent the group is at risk of developing negative/anti-social norms
• those who for physical, mental health or psychiatric reasons are unlikely to cope with the demands of the course (noting that it is appropriate to exclude from participation in certain components of a programme rather than the entire programme)
• those whose physical, mental health or psychiatric support needs exceed that which can reasonably be met by programme staff (noting again that exclusion can be from individual programme components).

Young people whose inclusion is conditional:

• maturity/developmental stage - the ability of young people to gain maximum benefit from a programme and to contribute productively to the group may be influenced by their level of maturity, reflecting their age or the developmental stage.  It may be that some young people are not yet sufficiently mature to be able to cope with the demands of the course.  The ability of programme staff to include particularly young or immature young people on a course may be influenced by the overall mix and composition of the group.  Exclusion should occur when staff feel a young person is not yet ready for the course or where their inclusion would be detrimental to other participants.
• young people with serious psychiatric or mental health issues - clinical advice provided to MSD in the context of another development programme for young people states that automatic exclusion should be considered for a young person where there have been high lethality suicide attempts in the previous year, and that a specialist psychological report should be required to over-ride this.  The course this advice relates to already screens out those who, for physical, mental health or psychiatric reasons, are unlikely to cope with the demands of the course.  The MYD programmes are considerably less mentally/emotionally challenging than the above course, however, the advice does highlight the need to consider the demands a course will place on a young person and conversely the demands a young people will place on the course.  Where the course involves particularly mentally/emotionally challenging and/or 'away' components, young people with a history of serious psychiatric or mental health issues could be included on the advice and with the support and involvement of health care professionals and family.