Reducing risk and vulnerability through a practical therapeutic approach
We are entering a new era for the Your Choice Framework – building on strong foundations and creating new opportunities for local authorities across the country to get involved. Developed by the London Innovation and Improvement Alliance (LIIA), Your Choice is an evidence-led, child-centred framework that empowers young people to identify what matters to them and work towards meaningful goals, while reducing their risk of harm.
Since its launch in 2021, Your Choice has grown into a pan-London programme delivered across 32 boroughs, supporting over 1,600 children and young people aged 11-18 as part of a large-scale randomised control trial.
What makes Your Choice different?
Your Choice goes beyond traditional approaches by combining:
- A practical, therapeutic framework rooted in third wave cognitive behavioural approaches
- A clinically informed, formulation led approach to reducing violence and vulnerability
- A child-first, strengths-based focus on aspirations, identity development and positive outcomes
Delivered by trained practitioners within local authority services, the framework is designed to integrate with existing local practice and equips professionals with psychologically informed tools and techniques to:
- Build strong, trusting relationships with young people
- Support self-understanding, emotional regulation and intrinsic motivation
- Activate and nurture pro social networks, behaviours and activities
- Help young people develop coping strategies and make safer choices
Evidence of impact
The Your Choice programme is one of the most rigorously tested approaches of its kind. Findings from the London Young People Study highlight promising improvements in young people’s psychological outcomes and wellbeing.
Alongside this, practitioners report:
- Stronger engagement with young people
- Improved relationships and resilience
- Better pathways back into education, training and employment
- Increased practitioner confidence and capability, contributing to retention
Young people report:
- Feeling happier, more positive, and more purposeful, with improved overall wellbeing
- Increased self-understanding, emotional awareness and ability to manage thoughts and behaviours
- Stronger social connections, relationships and engagement in meaningful activities, supporting safer and more positive life choices
A new phase: scaling and sharing what works
With robust evidence, a scalable model and a newly awarded quality standard recognised by the British Psychological Society (BPS), the UK’s leading professional body for psychology, Your Choice is now moving into a new phase of growth and opportunity.
We are inviting:
- London boroughs to deepen and expand delivery
- Local authorities beyond London to adopt and adapt the framework
- Partners and systems leaders to collaborate in embedding evidence-based, therapeutic approaches within adolescent safeguarding
This next phase is about sharing learning, scaling impact and embedding sustainable change across services supporting and empowering children and young people to achieve their goals and aspirations.
Get involved
There are multiple ways to engage with the next phase of Your Choice:
- Adopt the framework in your local area with full support from the centralised Your Choice team
- Build practitioner capability through our training model
- Join a growing network of local authorities and practitioners delivering Your Choice
- Contribute to ongoing learning, evaluation and innovation
Visit the Your Choice Framework page to learn more.