‘How do you rate your life at the moment? The evidence. Measuring the impact of one to one support services for young people.’

‘The Market Place – here to listen, here to help today’s young people’ in Leeds is an independent information, support and counselling service for 13-25 year olds. The organisation has recently launched the above report based on four years of research.

An original report in 2005 - ‘How do you rate your life at the moment? - Is it possible to measure the impact of one to one support services for young people?' researched the best ways to go about this process in a young person centred way. This resulted in young people designing an outcomes measuring tool called ‘How do you rate your life?’ which for them felt appropriate and usable, and which attempted to measure the expected outcomes of one to one support, as set by young people themselves.

This latest report, published in October 2008, is a follow up - three years on -and presents the data and results gathered from the ‘How do you rate your life?’ tool now in use at The Market Place. Data has been collated from nearly 700 evaluation sheets completed by young people receiving one to one support.

The report demonstrates that person-centred support can have an extremely positive impact on young people’s lives. The results consistently show that there is a meaningful improvement when comparing young people’s ratings of feelings before and after one to one support. This data adds to the evidence base which already exists at The Market Place - ongoing qualitative and quantitative data which argues the merits of a person-centred holistic approach when supporting young people in distress.

The first report is available as a download from The Market Place web site: themarketplaceleeds.org.uk The second report is available for £5 [if you are not based in Leeds] and free if you are [one copy per organisation].

The Market Place are also developing a briefing/training session for agencies interested in incorporating an evidence tool in a young person centred way.

Please contact Lizzie Neill at The Market Place on 0113 2461659 or email: Liz.themarketplace@virgin.net