one-eighty
One-Eighty was established in 2011, to support and engage young people to live
motivated and successful lives through psychological and evidence-based
approaches. Since then, we have supported over 3,500 young people (aged 4-18),
families and professionals across multiple locations, through our intensive
interventions, group work, projects, and training courses, to achieve our
charitable aims. The charity emerged from the Youth Offending Service in
Oxfordshire as part of the research and production of a resource manual looking
at the various reasons why a young person might disengage from education. This
research was based around the critical thinking theories – exposing young people
to a collaborative exploration of their life and their motivation. It looks at
critical moments of their life and helps them evaluate the evidence by which
they acted. This, in effect, allows a young person to create a more positive
framework of how they might adjust their behaviours in the future. The process
by which critical thinking theories operate are the foundation of other
therapies like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Systemic Therapy. Research
showed that the resource manual, although effective for 76% of young people
presenting disengaging behaviours, was not effective for all young people. What
this generic model lacked was something designed around a young person’s
specific needs.
