Action Plan Order
This is a court order that gives a young person a list of tasks to do and states that a number of appointments must be attended. This is over the course of three months and is carried out whilst working with a Youth Offending Service worker.

Anti-Bullying
The Sunderland Anti-Bullying Strategy provides support in order to help families cope with issues surrounding bullying through counselling, mediation, training and advice.

Bail Supervision
Bail supervision and support programmes are used, with and without the use of ISSP, to offer community programmes to children and young people at high risk of a secure remand or already remanded to the secure estate.

Barnardo’s Sungate Parenting Project
Sungate is a parenting project run by Barnardos via a Service Level Agreement with the YOS. It assists parents/carers of 10-17 year old young people using a variety of evidenced based initiatives. The majority of people referred attend on a voluntary basis, although some are supervised on statutory parenting orders.

Comprehensive Performance Framework
The YJB’s framework incorporates a series of measures and an overall YOT performance rating is calculated based on performance against Fourteen Key Performance Indicators (KPI's), National Standards, Effective Practice and Quality Assurance (EPQA) and Recidivism (Re-offending data). Improvement on previous performance figures and timely submission of the data are also taken into account. YOTs submit quarterly and annual data to the YJB under this framework.

Detention and Training Order
This is a court order sentencing the young person to time spent in custody (prison) for a length of up to two years. It is a punishment for serious or very frequent offences and aims to protect the public from the offender’s behaviour, punish them for their offence and help correct the problems that led to offending.

Diversity Programme
There are specific programmes of intervention for children and young people based on their diverse needs, including maturity and gender. For example, a programme about issues of self-esteem, called ‘Through the Looking glass’ has been used to work with girls and young women. There are also programmes looking at racial awareness and race hate issues, which have both undergone notable improvements over the last year.

Drug Treatment Programmes 
Sunderland YOS operates an integrated model for the delivery of mainstream substance misuse services for children and young people. Intervention for young offenders in contact with the YOS and displaying substance misuse needs is provided through YDAP. The integrated substance misuse team is able to offer a full range of specialist substance misuse services including prescription, harm reduction, relapse prevention, solution-based therapy, group work, etc.

Education, Training and Employment (ETE) Intervention
The YOS supports young people to engage with ETE through seconded Education Inclusion Officers, a Connexions Worker and bespoke projects designed to meet individual needs i.e. KECO outdoor activities project, the Bunker Music and Visual Arts Project, the Fast Track Project for progression into trades, etc.

Final Warning
A decision made by the police to give a young person a formal warning rather than send them to court. The police keep a record of this for five years, or until they have reached the age of 18, whichever is longer.

Homelessness Services
The YOS has a dedicated Accommodation Officer in post to ensure that accommodation does not negatively impact on criminal justice decisions, to ensure that accommodation issues are assessed and monitored in all cases and to find suitable accommodation for young people with housing needs.

Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme (ISSP)
Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme (ISSP): ISSP is a consortium arrangement across Sunderland, Gateshead and South Tyneside, providing intensive community-based surveillance with a focus on tackling factors that contribute to offending. This is the last intervention before custody, often as an alternative to custody. 2007 was a particularly outstanding year for the ‘New Directions’ initiative of this project (supporting young offenders to develop vocational skills in the community) and one of its staff members, attracting a Youth Justice Award, Regional Shine ‘Unsung Hero’ Award, Howard League for Penal Reform recognition, ‘Highly Commended’ in the North East Youth Justice Awards, and special mention in the Sunderland Council Employee of the Year Award.

Looked After Children Scheme
Two dedicated workers provide individual and group work interventions to looked after young people at risk of offending. The scheme works on a youth work principle encouraging citizenship and personal responsibility. The team were praised in the 2007 North East Youth Justice Assembly Awards for the innovation of practice they had developed in tackling this issue and the impact the team are having locally.

Mental Health Services
Sunderland YOS has a dedicated seconded Community Psychiatric Nurse (CPN) based within the YOS Offices. The role of the CAMHS worker, working across Prevention and the wider YOS, is supported by a jointly agreed protocol which sets out a clear operational procedure for the delivery of mental health services for young people referred by the YOS. The seconded practitioner is able to access the complete range of citywide mental health services up to Tier 4.

Offending Behaviour Programmes
Over the last year, the YOS has successfully implemented a wide range of Offending Behaviour Programmes, delivered by a dedicated Groupwork Coordinator. Specific programmes under this banner have included Hidden Harm for parents of young offenders who abuse substances; Arrive Alive for young people convicted of car crime; Substance Misuse workshops to motivate young people through drama; Give Racism the Red Card and Banner Theatre Drama Groups for young people convicted of racially motivated offences; Skills and Emotional Intelligence to guide young people away from peer pressure; etc. Group work sessions, underpinned by peer group dynamics, are a vital part of tackling the offending behaviour. They focus on changing thinking and encouraging consideration of the costs and consequences of offending behaviour on themselves, their families, victims, and the wider community. The YOS is currently engaging with a regional workshop, funded by the YJB, to link YOT resources in this area to those in the secure estate.

OnTrack
On Track is a project aimed at 4-12 year olds, living in North Washington, who are vulnerable and in need. It is a government funded project which is made up of a number of agencies, including Social Service, Education, Health and Police. These agencies work with young people and parents to address their needs. These include parenting difficulties, behavioural difficulties, offending, mental ill health, education difficulties and emotional difficulties. One young person who attended the On Track programme because of problems with bullying designed a set of playing cards called Fire Within. These were focused on strategies that children and young people could use to deal with bullies. The card were commercially produced and distributed within the city schools and subsequently won two awards for the young person and he was supported by YOS staff when attending the award events and in coping with the media attention he received. On Track won the Team of the Year Award in the 2007 North East Youth Justice Assemble Awards in recognition for innovation of practice.

Phoenix Community Fire Safety Project
The Phoenix Programme is a pioneering award winning partnership between Sunderland YOS and Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service offering youngsters an intensive fire fighters course providing work experience and education in the consequences of fire incidents / malicious fire setting. With evidenced outcomes of increased self-esteem, positive attitudes to education / employment and reduced re-offending, the programme is now influencing practice and policy elsewhere by duplication in other areas.

Positive Futures
The Positive Futures Scheme aims to tackle social exclusion among 8-19 year olds by diverting young people from offending and substance use by encouraging participation in a wide range of sport and recreational activities.

Prevention
The aim of prevention is to engage young people’s interests, increase their knowledge and consequently divert them from offending. They can often effectively address the problems, which lie behind a young person’s troublesome behaviour, such as family problems, substance misuse and poor education attainment. Sunderland Youth Offending Service has brought together a range of existing preventative services (for example Wear Kids and the Mentoring Project) as well as developing new initiatives to develop a Preventative Strategy.

Referral Order
This is a court order normally granted in situations where it is the young person’s first appearance in court and where they have admitted the offence. The aim of the order is to help the young person to avoid offending again. The duration can vary from 3 months to 12 months as decided by the court.

Referral Order Panel
When a court administers a young person with a Referral Order, the case is referred to a Community Panel. This panel is made up of 2-3 trained members of the local community and a member of the Youth Offending Service. They meet with the young offender, their family/carers and, where appropriate, the victim of the crime will be actively encouraged to take part. The Panel, together with the young person, their family/carers and the victim, will then draw up a contract for that young person.

Rehabilitation and Aftercare Programme (RAP) scheme
The RAP scheme provides additional resources to work with young people leaving custody who have an identified substance misuse problem. The scheme commenced in early 2005, with a requirement that up to 25 hours of activity is available to each young person.

Resettlement and Aftercare Provision (RAP)
The RAP programme ensures end-to-end provision for those in custody and engages with young offenders and prison staff to ensure ‘wrap around’ provision upon release. This programme was established in 2005 to provide additional resources to work with young people leaving custody who have identified substance misuse problems. The RAP team was awarded the regional YJ Award 2006 for their commitment to young people, having made great achievements such as partnering with the Bunker, a Sunderland based professional recording and rehearsal space that gives the RAP young people the chance to learn new skills through audio-visual engagement.

Restorative Justice (RJ)
Restorative Justice enables young offenders to make amends (reparation) to the community for their offending through positive or constructive activities. Innovative partnerships have been forged with schools, community centres, charitable organisations and businesses; and links have been forged with Safer Sunderland Partnership Respect Action and the National Big Recycle Scheme. The RJ Team has won the 2007 Recycling Initiative of the Year Award for their work with a local recycling contractor to deliver reparation projects on recycling across the city. Restorative Justice attracts high levels of positive media coverage.

Sessional Workers (Appropriate Adults)
The type of work that sessional workers get involved in include assisting young people at the police station as an Appropriate Adult. The Youth Offending Service advertises these opportunities routinely in local press and media.

Specialist Resources
In conjunction with specific programmes, the YOS utilises a wide range of focused resources for workers to use when engaging a young person on a programme or on a court based order. Examples include one-to-one paper-based activities, board games, videos, DVDs, Teen Talk, etc. The YOS holds an electronic directory of all resources available to practitioners (segmented by location, type, target group and method of delivery). This ensures that the practitioners are able to plan and deliver the most effective intervention for the child or young person.

Sunderland Volunteer Mentoring Service
The service offers vulnerable young people advice and support from an older, more experienced person, providing a protective factor against peer pressure and other pressures in the young person’s life. The Mentors within this service work with young people at all stages of the Criminal Justice System and provide a holistic approach to addressing the young person’s needs.

Supervision Order
This is a court order where appointments have to be maintained with a worker from the Youth Offending Service. The Young person is expected to meet all appointments on time and in a fit state, take part in work as required and desist from offending behaviour.

Tackle It
'Tackle IT' is an exciting partnership initiative between Sunderland YOS and Sunderland Premiership Football Club, to tackle racism, antisocial behaviour, and bullying and promote good citizenship. Specific award winning projects have included Tackle It Ten Feet High (working with Newcastle Eagles Basketball captain to develop young peoples aspirations), SuperKrush Films (young people developing substance misuse videos to deliver key messages to peers), and Cap-a-Pie (looked after young people making videos to deliver message on alcohol abuse). The success of the programme has received wide spread acclaim from both schools, media and award bodies.

Volunteer Mentoring Scheme
This is a well-established YOS programme helping over 500 young people to date that are either involved in offending or at risk of doing so. The project offers vulnerable young people, between the ages of 5 and 17 years old, advice and support from an older, more experienced person, providing a protective factor against pressures linked to offending in a young person's life. One of the schemes volunteers was runner-up at the 2007 North East Youth Justice Assembly Awards for her contribution in this area.

Wear Kids
Wear Kids is a free voluntary support scheme for young people aged 8-17 and their families in Sunderland. The main aim is to help young people stay out of trouble and prevent anti-social behaviour. Young people can refer themselves directly to the scheme or can be referred by parents, carers, teachers or other professionals. Wear Kids work with young people to organise support and access to other services. These could include health advice, family and parenting support, mentoring, education or local projects. Once a referral has been made young people meet with their project worker, and a panel is organised where a plan will be developed to work with young people and support them through any difficulties.

Youth Inclusion Project (YIP)
North Washington YIP, a partnership with Crime Concern, is a tailor made programme for some of the city’s most at-risk teenagers.  The youngsters involved with the programme receive one-to-one support, a safe place to go, and the opportunity to take part in activities with others.  They also get careers and education help to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour through helping them grow and develop in order to improve their behaviour and so reduce youth crime and disorder.