Opportunity of a Lifetime

Isn't this an interesting time of year.

I'm confused because it's really warm yet this time last year I was stuck in snow. I'm also a bit non plussed because things have gone all quiet at work. 

Conference season seems to have tailed off after a spurt of events in late October/ early November, the mayhem of my Lottery application is done and submitted and there is an eerie silence surrounding the preventative spend agenda.

The announcement of the preventative spend monies triggered lots of discussion and opinion across the Board and now seems to have entered the developmental phase called 'behind closed doors' as we lead up to April 2012.

I remain concerned that my colleagues in government and in statutory agencies will continue to plan and design outcomes around the delivery of services in very similar ways. I do not doubt for a moment that this can effectively prevent future costs but if this swallows the whole prize without even trying fresh expressions of community engagement then I fear we will have missed the opportunity of a lifetime.

I met with senior police commanders in Edinburgh last week exploring what prevention meant to them and their planning for the future. It was interesting that some of the best prevention work happening with local community volunteers and working with high risk young people was going on without their knowledge. The plethora of committees and partnership structures did not connect with this work on the ground yet it is one of the great examples of community prevention.

This highlighted for me the need to think in different ways to effectively prevent. One of the definitions of prevention is...

             '"In youth justice policy terms prevention engages with those children and young people as yet unknown to the justice system and in ways that will reduce the likelihood of that ever happening"

So it makes sense that the police commanders were unaware of great preventative work happening under their noses. If the whole point of prevention is that we make lots more of this happen across Scotland ie lots of volunteers supported in local communities to engage their children and young people in healthy activities to divert them away from making the wrong choices whether that be about alcohol or drugs, crime, behaviour etc etc.

So to conclude, the preventative spend discussions behind those closed doors will I trust ring fence monies to be spent in local communities not governed by statutory or local authority agents. This money would be released (with accountability in place) to trigger thousands more local volunteers, "engaging with those children and young people as yet unknown to the justice system and in ways that will reduce the likelihood of that ever happening"........and this out of sight of our statutory colleagues because its prevention.

Let's not miss an opportunity of a lifetime!