Callum Smeaton

I’ve always been passionate about supporting young people who have communication differences, especially those who’ve experienced adversity in their lives. That’s why I’m working as a specialist speech and language therapist for Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board in youth justice services. Typically, I support young people aged between 10 and 18 years-old with speech, language and communication needs but, on occasions I also work with children under the age of 10 who are accessing preventative intervention.  

Many young people accessing support from the youth justice service have been missed or failed by universal services and we’re often seen as ‘the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff that supports them to transition to adulthood.  

I work with young people who have speech, language and communication needs in various stages of their journey through the criminal justice system. I try to ensure that their communication difficulties don’t disproportionately affect their ability to understand or engage with the interventions they’re being provided with by the youth justice service. I assess a person’s needs and provide both recommendations and support for when they attend court. I also advocate for individuals struggling to engage with education because of identified speech, language and communication needs.

A youth justice service consists of a large multi-disciplined team, including social workers, psychologists, intervention workers, specialist health visitors, mental health nurses, police officers, substance misuse specialists, education workers and more. I routinely liaise with the team to ensure all interventions provided to young people and their families account for the person’s communication needs and are delivered in a manner that is both accessible and supportive. I also provide targeted training to wider services, including court magistrates, education services, and police, who work directly with young people experiencing communication difficulties.

The young people accessing the youth justice service present with both complex and diverse needs. A high proportion of them experience language and communication difficulties, which may have arisen because of many factors, including social adversity and developmental trauma, learning difficulties, neurodiversity, head injury, hearing impairments, genetic conditions, Developmental Language Disorder and much more. I’m required to have a wide breadth of knowledge to support their diverse needs.   

As speech and language therapy practitioners in youth justice we must be flexible in our approach to supporting young people. I work within any environment that is most comfortable for them and will support their communication and interaction skills. This may include their home, youth justice services offices, school, cafés, parks, and youth centres. I also support young people who are in custody, so will visit them in prison or secure children’s homes.

I once worked with a child who was at risk of receiving a custodial sentence and being sent to prison as he’d breached the conditions of his community order, but I knew his language and communication skills would have been a significant barrier for him and this probably would have prevented him from understanding and complying with the conditions given to him by the court. I presented my evidence to the court and the district judge agreed that the child should be given another opportunity to engage with his community order, and he, therefore, didn’t have to serve a custodial sentence. I’m pleased the child was given the chance to engage with education and training and, ultimately, move away from criminalised behaviours. 

One of the biggest issues we experience in our service is engagement. Due to the challenges that young people have experienced with health, education, or social services, many of them and their families have often lost trust in professional services. We must take an empathetic and holistic approach to working with families, delivering a child-first service that focuses on relationship-based practice. This creates one of the most rewarding aspects of my role, my relationship with the families. I work extensively with them to build strong bonds during their journey within the youth justice system. It’s extremely rewarding to watch the young people I work with develop and move away from the criminal justice system.