Interventions for Vulnerable Youth (IVY) Project - Kibble: Specialist services & support for young people facing adversity

On 1 November 2019, Kibble took over the vital Interventions for Vulnerable Youth (IVY) project, which had been facing closure.

Formerly run by University of Strathclyde’s Centre for Youth & Criminal Justice (CYCJ), and with funding by the Scottish Government’s Youth Justice team, the project promotes best practice in forensic mental health risk assessment and management for young people up to the age of 19, who present a risk of harm to others.

The Scottish Government fund this service, therefore there are no costs to referrers or those using the service.

IVY, which has the only dedicated team of its kind in the country is a national service and has provided support for hundreds of children and young people referred by all 32 Scottish local authorities since it began in 2013.

What We Do

IVY is a specialist psychological and social work service which provides three types of service.

  1. Professional Consultation and Advice
    We bring the team around the child together and complete a psychological risk formulation that explains the child’s behaviour, shares this understanding and makes recommendations for care planning and risk management. Note: this is our first step for all referrals to the service. Initial recommendations about further assessment and intervention from IVY are made within this forum.
  2. Psychological Assessment
    This can include more comprehensive risk assessment, cognitive assessments or explorations of emerging personality and more.
  3. Psychological Intervention
    This type of service can include both direct therapy to the child and / or direct support to those caring for the child.

    By providing specialist, therapeutic support, the IVY project aims to ensure the young people and the professionals supporting them have access to the best advice, practice assessment and interventions addressing mental health, psychological and forensic risk and needs.

Make a Referral

If you are concerned about a young person and would like to make a referral, please call us on 0300 303 2012 or email ivy@kibble.org. The Referral and Consent Forms are available for download below.

Our Specialist Team

  • Clinical Director and Forensic Psychologist
    Our Clinical Director provides overall clinical direction and operational management of the service.
  • Consultant Clinical Psychologist
    Our consultant clinical psychologist provides leadership and governance to the wider team. As part of their role, they chair consultations and supervise practice.
  • Social Work
    IVY has social work staff who support and contribute to all levels of the service. They provide a social work perspective to the consultations and bring expertise in community risk management, supports and intervention.
  • Forensic and Clinical Psychologists 
    Our team of psychologists chair consultations and provide the majority of level 2 and level 3 work. They provide psychological expertise regarding formulation, assessment, and intervention. 

Research

Kibble’s IVY service is committed to ongoing research, monitoring and evaluation to ensure we’re continuing to meet the needs of all those who access our service. Below you’ll find details of recent research conducted.

Evaluation

100% of professionals who completed our evaluation form said they would use our service again.

“For this young person the family was able to access the service of the Ivy Project quickly and gain support when required, something which is not available in many services”.  

Social Worker

“The Ivy team delivered the Outcome Report/Feedback report on time, which was very informative, and I know the YP’s local authority were extremely impressed with the time frame given, and the information provided.”

Child and Youth Care Worker

“an exceptionally useful service that offers support and guidance to professionals trying to support children, young people and families”.

Social Worker

Partnerships

The IVY team is proud to have partnered with a number of organisations. We have had secondments and staff services from Glasgow Forensic CAMHS service, Renfrewshire Whole System’s team and the Centre for Youth and Criminal Justice.

We are keen to develop partnerships with local authorities, health boards and voluntary sector agencies, with a view to offering specialist support that is tailored to meet the specific needs of different services for young people.

Any agencies interested in discussing options for partnership working with the IVY Project, please contact dan.johnson@kibble.org.