Today, we launch the evaluation of Scotland’s national pilot of the Planet Youth approach, a bold attempt to shift our focus from reacting to crises to preventing them in the first place., Over the last few years, six areas across Scotland have been exploring what happens when we try to change the system around our young people, rather than fix the young people themselves. This pilot didn’t drop in a new programme. It asked local partners to work together in new ways. To listen to data from young people. To build coalitions. To connect families, schools, and communities. To lead differently.
The evaluation doesn’t sugarcoat it. Prevention is hard – especially in a system built for crisis response. The work has been messy, uneven, and at times frustrating. But it has also been powerful. It’s shown what’s possible when committed people come together around a shared purpose and have the support to act on it.
Some highlights:
- Coalitions have formed, grown, and in some areas, begun to transform how services think and act.
- Communities are beginning to take ownership of prevention, not waiting to be “delivered to”.
- Schools, local services, and partners are starting to embed upstream thinking into their plans.
- And most importantly: the idea of prevention is gaining traction, not just as a policy ambition, but as a practical reality.
We now have rich insight into what it takes to make prevention work in Scotland. The answer? Relationships. Local leadership. Strategic courage. And time. Lots of time.
We’ve also created a companion document which brings the evaluation bang up to date, and looks forward to what might happen next.
This evaluation isn’t the end of the story – it’s a learning milestone. Over the coming months, we’ll be hosting a series of consultations to explore the themes in more depth: mental health, parental engagement, coalition-building, school partnerships, and what system change really looks like. If you care about prevention, this is a conversation you’ll want to be part of.
You can read the summary and full evaluation here
And if you’re short on time but want the key headlines, we’ve got that too:
We’re proud to share this, and even prouder of all the local leads, coalition members, and partners who keep showing up to make prevention real.