Partnership projects

The Sussex Violence Reduction Partnership supports a range of projects designed to protect vulnerable young people, improve the opportunities open to them and reduce their risk of becoming involved in serious violence.

With the help of funding from the Home Office and partner organisations, grass-roots, community-based projects are being financed and supported across Brighton & Hove, East Sussex and West Sussex.

Local violence reduction partnerships in each area provide the local knowledge, contacts and experience to bring the right partners together and target services effectively.​ Three programmes are taking place across all three local authorities in Sussex as follows;

Sussex Custody Navigators Programme

  • Custody Navigators within the custody suites in Brighton & Hove, Eastbourne, Hastings, Worthing and Crawley.
  • Engaging with YP who have been bought into custody to offer guidance and support at a ‘reachable, teachable’ moment.
  • The intervention is delivered on a 1:1 basis, and support offered is bespoke and adaptable based on participant needs. Through early engagement and targeted support, navigators play a vital role in preventing further involvement with the justice system, promoting wellbeing, and enabling young people to make constructive choices.

Sussex Focused Deterrence Project

  • A multi-agency violence reduction programme that aims to reduce serious violence by identifying and directly engaging with targeted children who are identified at risk of current or future involvement in knife related harm.
    It combines clear, credible communication about the risks and consequences of continued knife involvement with intensive, tailored support to help each child move onto a safer, more positive path. The overall aim is to reduce knife carrying, prevent harm, and strengthen protective factors like positive relationships, safety, and engagement in education.
  • The multi-agency element of FD is delivered through multi-agency meetings held with statutory partners and police colleagues to discuss individual cases. A senior‑level partnership (Police, CSC, YJS) that shares intelligence, selects the cohort, coordinates support and enforcement, and reviews progress.

WBC Cares - Youth Boxing Intervention Plus Programme

  • A targeted, sports-based intervention delivered in five key locations across Sussex - Brighton & Hove, Eastbourne, Bognor Regis, Horsham, Crawley, Haywards Heath.
  • The programme combines weekly sessions of structured boxing and/or multi-sport activity with mentoring in safe community gym settings Sports-based diversionary activity and mentoring for children and young people.
  • This intervention is a second-tier preventative Sports Programme, targeting children and young people at risk of exploitation, ASB, school exclusion, involvement in violence or social disengagement. 

Further locality specific programmes have been commissioned as follows;

Brighton & Hove

  1. Hospital Youthwork Project
    • Delivered by The Trust for Developing Communities - An A&E Navigator Programme delivered on-site at the Children’s A&E unit of the Royal Alexandria Children’s Hospital.
    • The A&E navigator provides 1:1 ongoing support and onward referrals to improve their physical and mental wellbeing and reduce further incidents of violence and hospital admissions.
    • The type of support offered is adaptable to each young person's needs with a tailored plan created. CYP will generally receive 3-4 sessions, delivered in-person by members of the HYW staff team. These can be delivered at their school, at the hospital or in the community. At the end of engagement, they will make onward referrals in to other services where necessary.

East Sussex

  1. Violence and Exploitation Keywork Service 
    • Violence and exploitation keyworkers will provide intensive, relationship-based support to children and families. Interventions are individually tailored and informed by assessment, focusing on addressing drivers and risks linked to exploitation.
    • Key areas of support including improving school attendance, developing social and emotional skills, accessing positive activities, engaging with specialist services, and helping parents strengthen protective strategies.
    • The keyworkers will also support contextual safeguarding responses such as joint detached work and targeted group sessions. They will help deliver the CACE (Collaboration Against Child Exploitation) programme, which supports parents/carers to understand exploitation and build protective skills through a seven‑week course, shorter workshops, monthly support groups, and community awareness events.     

West Sussex

  1. Therapeutic Support

     

    • A specialist trauma‑informed 1:1 therapeutic service that supports children who are victims of domestic abuse and also at risk of involvement in serious violence. It creates a dedicated pathway for children known to YJS, MACE or Young Futures, offering assessment, personalised support plans, and regular sessions until needs are met.
    • The project also includes workforce development so frontline staff can better recognise and respond to domestic abuse and its links to serious violence.
    • This is the first time this intervention has been funded in Sussex and is a result of statistical analysis demonstrating the link between being a victim of serious violence and subsequently becoming a perpetrator. This also seeks to address an adverse childhood experience which could lead to further risk factors (such as disengagement from school due to trauma etc.)