Project Description

One of the consequences of abuse and neglect is that young people misinterpret their own and others’ feelings. The hypothesis of this project was that modern technology may have the potential to support young people and their carers with these issues.

Led by the University of Kent, the project brought together a consortium of technologists, designers and academics to understand how to leverage advances in technology for the benefit of some of the most vulnerable young people in society.

Four waves of co-design workshops were conducted with young people, their carers and social workers, to scope out a new digital service for vulnerable young people, with the aim to discover whether there could be co-design of behavioural and support technologies. Two concepts were favoured by young people and their carers: ‘Real World’ – a virtual flat that teaches young people the skills they need to move into independence, and an online platform – a place for information to be collated and shared between young people, carers and social workers.

Due to a lack of a long term funding model and time constraints the innovation will not be continuing in the future.

Evaluation

The DfE-funded independent evalution found that out of the seven tested concepts, two that had the most traction with the young people and carers were: ‘Real World’ – a virtual flat that teaches young people the skills they need to move into independence; and an online platform – a place for information to be collated and shared between young people, carers and social workers.