""I think if I'm bored and I didn't have someone like James, I'd be going out and I'd be doing all sorts, like maybe selling drugs, maybe involved in things I shouldn't be involved in. "So for me personally [I can focus on] construction, in college, but then also I like music, so music's another aspect of that as well.""
""A lot of these young people need a lot of engagement and robust initiatives for them to turn their lives around, and some of them just need support. "Some of them haven't really fully gone down the wrong path but are at risk because of the area and environment that they live in.""
""It keeps me busy, keeps me out of trouble, keeps me doing something and with the work we do as well, it gives me a different sense of what I want to do in the future.""
My Ends pairs at-risk young people in Croydon with mentors to provide engagement, support and alternatives to criminal activity. Mentors describe the work as fulfilling and essential for offering robust initiatives and one-to-one support to help young people avoid risky behaviour. Participants report that mentoring reduces boredom-driven risks and enables focus on education, construction training and music. VRU data shows violence with injury down 8.5% (6,000 fewer incidents) and knife crime down 12.6% to 2,104 incidents in the year to October, while NHS admissions fell 7% and teenage homicides reduced to seven. Office for National Statistics data shows overall knife-related offences remained unchanged to June, prompting continued emphasis on prevention.
Read at www.bbc.com
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