Is locking troubled young folk up with other troubled young folk, really the best solution?
Readingthe tragic story of 16-year-old William Lindsay, I was struck by what a difficult life he had led, passed from pillar to post from a very young age.
Ministers have since pledged action to tackle the number of suicides in Scottish prisons following the deaths of William and 21-year-old Katie
Allan at Polmont
Young Offenders’ Institution.
We are all products of our environment, and very often you find with kids who go off the rails that there’s almost an inevitability about it. In too many cases they just don’t have the family support, guidance, discipline OR good role models around them.
One of the things I always say when I’m talking to sports coaches is that if you want to get an improvement or change in behaviour or performance, you have to invest time in the person in front of you.
The more you get to know them and understand their world, the higher the chance of finding the right training methods and most effective way to communicate.
You need to do that before they will fully trust you and I wonder if we are investing enough into identifying the causes of what instigates the behaviours that get young people into trouble?
Our current solution right now seems to be to see them as bad and lock them up. But that’s the problem of going into an institution where you’re then surrounded by other troubled young people, and rather than being rehabilitated in the right way, it may rehabilitate you in the wrong way.
I draw on sport to solve problems because I know the benefits of fresh air, exercise and having something to look forward to. It’s so important.