‘Why don't we just build it in a square hole?’: Developing a multi-component drug outreach service for young people aged 16-25 in England

Article

Welch, Z., Duke, K., Hughes, K., Sondhi, A. and Wright, S. 2025. ‘Why don't we just build it in a square hole?’: Developing a multi-component drug outreach service for young people aged 16-25 in England. Drugs: Education, Prevention, and Policy. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687637.2025.2470147
TypeArticle
Title‘Why don't we just build it in a square hole?’: Developing a multi-component drug outreach service for young people aged 16-25 in England
AuthorsWelch, Z., Duke, K., Hughes, K., Sondhi, A. and Wright, S.
Abstract

Background: In England, the rise in young people/adults’ drug use coincides with a decline in specialist outreach and support services. Current substance use provision particularly neglects young adults. This paper traces the origins of the multi-component ‘1625 Outreach’ model and how it was developed and refined by utilizing community engagement and co-production approaches.
Methods: The co-produced, qualitative research design included observations of outreach practitioners in different settings, focus groups with professionals and young people/adults, and semi-structured interviews with key informants.
Results: The multi-component model was found to be agile, innovative and responsive to local drug trends. This was facilitated by community partnerships and inter-agency collaboration and the involvement of young people in service development and delivery. Co-designed prevention messages on social media were effective in reaching a wide audience. It was important that the educator was viewed as relatable, trustworthy and knowledgeable, with honest harm reduction messages. Participants preferred strengths-based harm reduction discussions, allowing for exploration of the complexities of drug use.
Conclusion: The study highlights the importance of developing credible, strengths-based harm reduction messages co-designed by young people. A coherent multi-component delivery approach with stakeholder engagement can facilitate agile responses to the changing needs of local young people/adults.

KeywordsCommunity engagement; young adults; young people; youth transitions; outreach; harm reduction; outreach; harm reduction; co-production
Sustainable Development Goals11 Sustainable cities and communities
3 Good health and well-being
10 Reduced inequalities
16 Peace, justice and strong institutions
Middlesex University ThemeHealth & Wellbeing
Research GroupThe Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (DARC)
PublisherTaylor & Francis (Routledge)
JournalDrugs: Education, Prevention, and Policy
ISSN0968-7637
Electronic1465-3370
Publication dates
Online06 Mar 2025
Publication process dates
Accepted13 Feb 2025
Deposited18 Feb 2025
Output statusPublished
Publisher's version
License
File Access Level
Open
Copyright Statement

© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/09687637.2025.2470147
Web of Science identifierWOS:001438469200001
LanguageEnglish
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