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.