The Restorative Justice Council and Together for Mental Wellbeing join the T2A Alliance

The Transition to Adulthood (T2A) Alliance is a coalition of 16 leading criminal justice, health and youth charities chaired by Joyce Moseley OBE. The Alliance helps to shape T2A’s policy positions and promotes a better criminal justice system for young adults to government, practitioners and the wider voluntary sector. Recently, T2A’s campaign management group undertook a membership audit of the Alliance, and identified the need for additional expertise on two current priorities.

One of these priorities is restorative justice, one of the 10 T2A Pathway stages. The Restorative Justice Council (RJC) is a national charity that sets the standards of what excellence should look like in restorative justice practice. It has played an instrumental role in T2A’s work on restorative justice, and will bring expertise on both national policy and service delivery. In 2013 the RJC published a report for T2A on the use of restorative justice with young adults, and has since undertaken similar reviews with regards to women and BAME young people.

Together for Mental Wellbeing joins T2A to add expertise on adult mental health provision. Together has already made a major contribution to T2A’s evidence base, through its Rotherham-based project as part of the T2A Pathway. It brings national expertise in policy and service delivery, particularly at the interface between mental health and criminal justice.

Joyce Moseley, Chair of the T2A Alliance said: “We are delighted that the Restorative Justice Council and Together for Mental Wellbeing have agreed to join the T2A Alliance. Both have already played a key role in shaping T2A’s policy positions and contributing to its evidence base. By joining the Alliance, our collective voice will be stronger in making the case for a more effective response to 18-25-year-olds involved in the criminal justice system.”

Linda Bryant, Director of Criminal Justice Services at Together for Mental Wellbeing said: “Together remains committed to working with young adults experiencing mental distress who find themselves in contact with the criminal justice system.  We recognise the need to treat young adults differently in  assessing their maturity levels and in providing tailored responses to meet their identified needs.  We are very much looking forward to joining the T2A coalition and working collaboratively with the other members to take forward the very valuable work of the Alliance”.

Jon Collins, CEO of the RJC said: “Restorative justice is a key intervention for young adults, helping them to desist from crime at an early stage and preventing unnecessary criminalisation whenever possible. We’re delighted to be joining the T2A Alliance and hope to contribute to its very important work to ensure better outcomes for young adults coming into contact with the criminal justice system.”