VH-studio/ShutterstockNearly 1 million 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK are currently outside education, employment or training and the number is currently projected to increase. We can all see the huge waste of talent this represents for the young people concerned and society as a whole. In his interim report on young people and work, commissioned by the government, former MP Alan Milburn found that although most of the young people in this situation aspire to steady employment, education or training, pathways to achieve their aims are not clear. These issues reflect societal, moral and economic failure.Milburn identifies multiple intersecting reasons for the current situation. He observes that health, education, social services and legal systems can compound existing disadvantage. Interactions with these systems are often impersonal and transactional, prioritising measurable outcomes over genuine concern for the individual.Even the term Neet shows how young people are perceived as problems to be fixed, not individuals with dreams and talents. Defining them as “not in employment, not in education, not in training” implies there is something wrong with them. Do I define myself as “not an accountant”?If using such loaded, discouraging terms limits how society thinks about young people and often how they think about themselves, research shows the benefits of taking a strengths-based mentoring approach. For some, such relationships already exist around them. For others, a formal mechanism can introduce mentors to make these connections. The value of a mentorMentors are trained adults who can offer emotional, practical and developmental support to young people. They help young people understand their goals, strengths and how to bring about change for themselves, rather than pre-determining a problem and imposing solutions.For my doctoral research, I worked with seven young people, seven mentors, two mentoring coordinators and four referrers in a local authority mentoring programme. This research showed the value of the trusting relationships they formed. A mentor listened and helped young people express their needs and provided time and space to explore new ideas and address worries. They could explore their strengths and interests, which often lay outside mainstream education. Mentors who valued their curiosity and expertise in reptiles, manga and photography, for example, expanded the young people’s sense of who they were and what they could achieve. Mentors can be trusted adults for young people. fizkes/Shutterstock Additionally, mentors were often the trusted adults who supported them through challenging family circumstances such as parents’ mental health crises, homelessness or bullying.Encouraging young people to make sense of and articulate issues they faced meant they could be supported and signposted to other sources of help. Addressing their preoccupations gave young people the time and space to think about school and future prospects. One young person said: It’s someone that you can sort of share everything to; that’s why I think it’s like one of the best things to have.Identifying their goals, strengths and the resources around them increased the young people’s confidence in their abilities and prospects. Combining their skills and knowledge with exposure through their mentor to new experiences, ideas, and importantly, contacts increased resilience and led to transformative change. This renewed sense of purpose and ability to change their situation helped improve their wellbeing and confidence.By taking an approach centred on the young person, the paths that they chose often addressed the very issues policy frets about.For example, one person who refused to attend school instead chose online schooling; a young person who had been in limbo realised that working in childcare was within her grasp. Given space to explore what they wanted, young people re-engaged in employment, education or training but in their own way and on their own terms.Improve existing systemsMilburn called for systemic change, not more unscalable solutions. The beginning of an infrastructure exists already in the youth mentoring organisations spread across the UK. However, the network is fragmented and experiences uncertain funding. It is unevenly accredited and with limited opportunity to share research-based good practice.A vital part of harnessing existing expertise in youth mentoring is to establish a central agency to assure quality.Helping young people succeed in navigating complex systems around them would be more cost effective than waiting until they reach crisis point. Schools are already used to mentoring new teachers: this culture could be extended to include young people in education. Indeed, incorporating skills to create trusting and developmental relationships into training for those who work with young people would see great benefits.Helping young people to help themselves through mentoring relationships is more likely to engage them in returning to education or entering the workplace. This works better than an approach that focuses on their deficits and forces them through pre-determined steps.Strengths-based mentoring should become a recognised part of the support infrastructure available to every young person who needs it.Catherine Comfort is a member of the Labour Party and the Ver Valley society