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Following on from our recent article about local youth action and what International Youth Day means for the young people we support at P3 Charity, we sat down with Esther Barrett, our Director of Young People and Family Services.
Esther shares how her role shapes P3 Charity’s commitment to delivering high-quality youth support services and how our trauma-informed approach creates real impact for young people and local communities. She explains how our new structure strengthens youth services and why putting young people at the heart of what we do is vital for our charity’s mission. Esther also highlights why International Youth Day is so important for championing youth voices and how P3 Charity is working to make lasting change happen.
“I’m blessed to lead all of our children’s, young people’s and family services here at P3 Charity. I’m also our nominated Ofsted individual, which means I make sure our services meet the highest standards for young people.
In 2023, new Ofsted regulations came in to bring more stability and a benchmark in youth services. It’s been an interesting journey, a real learning curve for us, but a really good experience — we’ve adapted, reflected on where we are now and set out where we want to go next. And at every step, young people are right at the centre of that journey.”
Esther says that under P3’s old structure, line management for youth services was spread out meaning that managers often reported to multiple people, which didn’t help us deliver the best support. The new structure has strengthened P3 Charity’s support for young people and created more opportunities for positive change. Esther adds: “Now, our youth services have their own governance and management framework which means we can streamline and review our youth services more effectively, meaning we can reach more young people both locally and nationally. Not only to allow us to have full autonomy of our services for our staff, teams and regional managers but also to have a Director of Children’s Services it gives us the opportunity to grow our youth services sustainably as we already have that structure in place. Still, it was a big transformation, but the benefits for our youth services have been fantastic, so it’s really exciting for us.”
“Before P3, my background was in counselling, so working in a trauma-informed way is really close to my heart. Many young people we work with have experienced big challenges and trauma, so it makes sense that we meet them with empathy and understanding.
It fits perfectly with P3’s values, too. We’ve built this approach into our everyday work – it’s not just how we support young people, but how we look after our teams, too. We invest in training and development, so our staff feel confident and equipped. When people understand what’s behind a young person’s behaviour, they can respond with more care, and that has a huge impact.
Every P3 service has its own quality framework, tailored to the needs of that local community. We measure quality through Ofsted standards and how well we’re sticking to trauma-informed practice. It’s all about working alongside young people and families, listening to what they need and making sure they have a say in shaping our services. That’s what proper youth support should be about.”
“A lot of what we do is focused on safe accommodation and housing advice and support for young people. But we also run floating support services, wellbeing services, play schemes and after-school clubs.
What’s great to see is the huge impact these services have, not just for young people’s wellbeing, but for their confidence and sense of belonging.
Many of the young people we support go on to further education, work or volunteer in their local communities. We encourage them to join community-led activities and meet local councillors, mayors and MPs. It gives them aspirations and a real voice, not only to speak up for what they believe in, but to give them a platform where they are truly listened to – and have hope for the future.
When a young person has someone by their side asking, ‘What do you want to achieve?’, it shifts the focus from today to tomorrow. I want every child and young person at P3 Charity to be inspired and believe: ‘I can do this. I’ve got this.’ That attitude inspires local communities, too – that’s the real impact of youth support.”
“The growing concern that I’m seeing in our accommodation services is the rising level of complexity of young people’s needs. At the same time, charities like ours are facing tighter budgets and bigger demands, so we’re having to do more with less as well as comply with new regulations.” Esther explains that P3’s new structure helps us manage this better at a local level, but new challenges keep coming up.
“For example, we’re now supporting more young asylum seekers, some with complex health needs like tuberculosis or hepatitis – things our teams didn’t often see before, so staff are having to learn on their feet to safeguard this young person as well as the local community.
So, we’re learning fast by building strong partnerships with translators, local healthcare providers and other services to make sure young people feel safe and supported. We know we can’t fix everything on our own, but we can be the link that connects young people with the right support, whether that’s mental health services, substance misuse teams or trusted healthcare. That’s how we make an impact that really lasts.”
“I’m genuinely so excited about our future. This restructure was just the starting point. Over the next few years, I want us to grow so more young people can access high-quality support, no matter where they live. I want P3 to be known nationally as a flagship charity for youth services, with trauma-informed practice right at the heart of everything we do.”
“International Youth Day matters because it connects us to a bigger, global conversation about youth voices, rights and opportunities. It reminds us to listen, first – not to tell young people who they should be, but to ask them what they want and help them get there.
It gives young people a voice, people who are often told how to feel, how to respond and what their choices are. We need to flip that on its head – at P3, we ask young people what they would like their life to be. It’s not my decision, or a support worker, the decision should come from them.
We’ve recently brought in a Young Persons Involvement Co-ordinator who’s setting up a Youth Advisory Board so young people can help shape our services directly. I also sit on a national youth board through Homeless Link, which gives us access to parliament and Ofsted so we can keep pushing for policies that really make a difference. We’re trying to keep ourselves connected as much as we can, to help as many young people as possible.”
Esther explains that we’re keeping our eyes open internationally, too. She says: “We hope to send some of our support workers to a conference in Budapest to learn and share ideas with peers from across the international youth support sector.”
From our conversation with Esther, it’s clear that this is such an exciting time for P3’s youth services. International Youth Day is the perfect reminder that when young people have a voice and the right support, they can change not just the communities in which they live, but the world.
P3 Charity’s youth services support young people to overcome challenges, build resilience and achieve their goals. We stand alongside young people facing homelessness, family breakdown, mental health issues or risk of exploitation, providing safe spaces and trusted support that make a lasting impact. Our charity’s mission is simple: Every young person deserves to feel safe, valued and heard – not just on International Youth Day, but every day.
Don’t just take our word for it, come and see for yourself by arranging a visit to your local service.
To find out more about what drives local youth action across our services, check out part one of our article here.
