by Author anita holford

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Collecting information from young people - how do you avoid being invasive?

Over on the private Facebook page (dm me to join if you're part of a Youth Music -funded Musical Inclusion programme), one member asked if anyone had found a good way to ask people to describe their challenges, without feeling too invasive. How do you do it? Do you know how other professionals handle this?

UPDATE: Could you share your policy/practice/ tips/thoughts? Add them on our collaborative 'Build your own theory' Google Doc on Collecting/sharing information

 

The topic prompted a flurry of responses on Facebook. Some of the practices people shared were:

* Never describe anyone in a way which, were they to hear it, they would find upsetting, or ask them questions which might lead them to think they're being labelled.

* Give a list of names of the young people who are involved in a particular project, to the staff who work with them, and ask them to come back with a summary of the issues those young people face without attaching the data to individual names. 

* Ask senior staff to give general summaries of the impact again without naming individuals. 

* Some organisations simply just don't do it: they either don't work with funders that require public sharing of such labels/definitions, or they just don't ask the question or use such descriptions:

"There are some funders we don't approach because of the way they insist the beneficiaries must be described."

"I honestly feel that sometimes funders think we are being evasive with information rather than our reticence being driven by the most important part of our work; placing the needs of young people first."

"We have quite a bit of powerful evidence of the effectiveness of their work that they can't use for this reason."

"We have a project at the moment with young people where we're not allowed to know about them in detail ... they may be subject to identity changes in the future. And voluntary disclosure doesn't help - we still wouldn't use it."

"We don't ask clients to tell their story or identify themselves as X or Y -one of the strengths of the work is that we can present as non-threatening 'musicians' rather than mental health workers or social workers."

All agreed the needs of young people must come before the needs of funders:

"The simplest situation is where the people who see the impact (e.g. head teachers) are bearing all or most of the cost of their organisation being involved: then no-one outside needs to know."

"For subsidised work how about just trusting what those head teachers and other frontline professionals say? I am a bit sceptical about the whole line that if we get enough evidence of impact then the work will be paid for. My experience is that we get that message most strongly just before funding is cut!!"

"The challenge is balancing the needs of funding and the needs of young people. When those young people are facing extreme situations, I hope we always prioritise their needs, because, to me, that seems like getting it right, even if we can't persuade the funder."

And one practitioner said the challenge has increased the more they've been successful in targeting the work:

"asking generic details within a mainstream setting is a very achievable task, asking for specific details, potentially leading to case studies in (for example) mental health situations opens up an entirely different front of information management and personal relationships". 

 

How does your organisation balance the needs of funders and advcacy (linking outcomes to specific types of needs/challenges), with the needs of young people? Do you know how other professionals handle this? I've found some information on the website of the Institute of Youth Work. Let us know what you know, and we'll share in a 'Key issues' document for the sector.

Photo: thanks to Savoy Youth Theatre