Young people’s mental health is a growing concern, but support systems are often designed to respond once problems have become serious. Kailo takes a different approach, looking beyond mental health services to understand and address the wider factors that shape young people’s wellbeing.
Developed through research, design and collaboration, Kailo brings young people, communities and local organisations together to identify the issues that matter most and co-design solutions that reflect local needs.
Kailo was initially developed in two very different communities, Newham in East London and rural Northern Devon. In Northern Devon, young people identified access to diverse opportunities, education and employment as important factors affecting their mental health and wellbeing. The research brought together young people, community organisations, educators, employers and local system leaders to better understand these issues and explore opportunities for change. This helped shift conversations among local organisations towards the importance of listening to young people and involving them in decisions that affect their lives.
One Kailo representative described this as a key contribution of the programme: organisations had begun to recognise “the importance of listening [to young people]” and the value of their voices in shaping guidance, tools and services.
Kailo has also helped bring organisations together around issues identified by young people themselves. Research findings and co-design work have been shared across Northern Devon, helping local employers, education and voluntary sector organisations understand the barriers young people face in accessing diverse opportunities and employment. In one example, a local working group planned to revise its strategy to align with findings from the Kailo research and co-design process. This demonstrates the potential of Kailo to influence not just individual services, but the wider systems and environments in which young people live.
The Kailo framework is now being refined through developmental evaluation, with learning from Northern Devon and Newham informing how the approach can work in different communities and contexts. The research is examining what helps place-based approaches succeed, including relationship building, addressing wider social determinants and giving communities the knowledge and confidence to take action.
The ambition is to take what has been learned locally and support other communities to use the approach in the future. By putting young people at the centre of understanding the challenges they face, Kailo is helping communities move towards a more preventative approach to mental health – one that looks beneath the surface of mental health difficulties and tackles some of the wider factors that shape young people’s lives.