A research study of youth mentoring

INTERVENTION: Randomization will be at the individual level after stratifying on youth agencies (multi‐sites) using a merged block randomization procedure automated software built into the study data portal. No masking procedure is followed. There are two study arms with a 1:1 allocation: 1. Treatment Arm: Young people receive a shared practice model of mentoring on a one‐to‐one basis in the form of 12 sessions of at least 45 minutes over the course of 12 weeks. Sessions will be by a paid adult mentor at the youth agency, over and above 'service as usual' provided by the agency. 2. Control Arm: Young people receive 'service as usual' provided by the youth agency while being on a 12‐week wait list for one‐to‐one mentoring. They will then receive the shared practice model of mentoring as described above. CONDITION: Social and emotional skills ; Not Applicable PRIMARY OUTCOME: Social and emotional skills measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire to be administered at baseline prior to randomisation and again at 12‐15 weeks after randomisation, which marks the end of the mentoring intervention for the intervention group and the end of the waiting period for the control group. SECONDARY OUTCOME: ; 1. Self‐confidence; 2. Problem solving and decision making; 3. Teamwork and social skills building; 4. Emotional regulation and resilience; ; All measures will be measured using the Evaluation of the National Citizen Service, to be administered at baseline prior to the baseline and again at 12‐15 weeks after randomisation which marks the end of the mentoring intervention for the intervention group and the end of the waiting period for the control group.; INCLUSION CRITERIA: The eligibility criteria for the recruitment of young people to the efficacy trial will be: 1. Young people aged between 10 and 14 years, or up to 17 years by exception, with no more than 30% of the young people aged 15 to 17 years per youth agency 2. Young people exhibit at least one of the Youth Endowment Fund‐listed risk factors for youth violence 3. Youth agency deems the young person at a suitable level of need to benefit from 12 weeks of mentoring and not to be put at risk if allocated to the waiting list