This website been produced as part of the Total Counselling Leonardo Project. The project, which has partners in Iceland, Italy, Slovenia and England, aims to contribute to the development of more holistic advice and guidance services for young people in the different partner countries, partly through establishing improved methods of cooperation between organisations supporting young people.

Across Europe, there is awareness of the importance of integrating young people in a meaningful way into society. There is also recognition of the fact that not all young people find their place in our educational and vocational training systems and the fact that some don’t connect generally with society and these young people are at risk of becoming alienated and marginalised. For example in England the “Bridging the Gap” and “Learning to Succeed” reports laid down the Government plans for social inclusion for all young people, with an emphasis on the most disadvantaged. Developing methods to work with these young people who are at danger of dropping out of the system is an important European issue.

Therefore the project aims to look at different approaches across the 4 countries to this problem and to develop tools that are relevant to those in other countries.

Each country has followed a different approach:

• Iceland

• Slovenia

• Italy

• England

This website has primarily been produced to assist the Personal Adviser working in delivery of the Connexions Service at Careers Bradford, but may also be useful as a reference tool for Personal Advisers in a variety of organisations and settings through the Bradford district. In addition it might also provide an insight for agencies not familiar with the Connexions Service.

All details were current at the time of publication in November 2004, but Personal Advisers need to be aware these may change over time and to double check (for example by using any websites listed) when giving out specific advice to clients, particularly on financial matters.

Further information about the development of the services in other countries and the other products being developed can be found at www.totalcounselling.org 

Hitt Húsið in Reykjavik in Iceland is a cultural, social and information centre for young people between 16 and 25 years of age. Hitt Húsið has developed a service, which connects the different counselling and advice services for young people together and offer services in a single place (Hitt Húsið) on a single platform, in Hitt Húsið, and the website, www.totalradgjof.is. A “Total Counselling” service is also being developed in Midberg Community Centre in Breiðholt.

A “Total Counselling” service will be introduced in 2005 as a result of a successful European Social Fund bid by the project partner CPI (Centre of the RS for Vocational Education and Training). This new service will create specialist teams to support existing advice and guidance services by targeting those who have dropped out of the education and training system. This will be the first time such a service has been available in Slovenia. 

In Italy, the project partner (Arca 3001ONLUS) based in Rome is developing new methods of creating networks between the support services available for young people. 

Resulting from recommendations of the Social Exclusion Unit the Connexions Service was set up to support young people into learning using a multi-agency approach. The aim of this is to help to address the gaps in provision to clients and form part of an integrated approach to be delivered through existing support agencies for young people including the Youth Service, Social Services, Careers Services and the Voluntary Sector. The emphasis has been on taking services out to clients and establishing new and innovative approaches to working in the community.

In England, the project partner, based in Bradford has been responsible for producing The Personal Adviser Handbook as a basic guide to holistic guidance. The aim was to produce a resource drawing together current thinking and practice.