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What is early intervention?
Early intervention means identifying and providing effective early support to children and young people who are at risk of poor outcomes. Effective early intervention works to prevent problems occurring, or to tackle them head-on when they do, before problems get worse. It also helps to foster a whole set of personal strengths and skills that prepare a child for adult life.
What is early intervention?
All children deserve the best possible start in life, and their development and experiences throughout childhood and adolescence lay the foundations for happy, healthy and productive lives.
Early intervention means identifying and providing effective early support to children and young people who are at risk of experiencing poor outcomes, such as struggling at school, mental health problems, taking risks with drugs or sex or getting involved in gangs or crime.
Effective early intervention works to prevent problems occurring or to tackle them head-on when they do before problems get worse working to put in place small solutions early on rather than having the need for a bigger solution later.
Early intervention works to improve children’s lives by providing extra support to individuals and families who need it. This can take different forms such as home visits to support new or vulnerable parents school-based programmes to improve children’s emotional skills or mentoring schemes for young people who are at risk of getting involved in a gang. This support may be provided by the government, national charities, local councils, or small community organisations. Sometimes it’s provided through a standalone programme; sometimes it’s just part of how public services work with children and families.
In the first few years of life, through childhood and into the teenage years early intervention is a vital way of providing the skills and resilience young people need to succeed in life.