Channel 4 News highlights the importance of prevention in addressing knife crime

Our schools-based mentoring work was featured on Channel 4 News (25 September 2024) as part of a piece looking at wider solutions to knife crime following the zombie knife ban coming into force this week. 

In a poignant piece also highlighting the tragic consequence of knife crime, Channel 4 News filmed our mentor Chantele Barker at work mentoring students at school.  Her mentoring provides one-to-one support and interventions to young people who are vulnerable to violence and exploitation. Channel 4 also spoke to three of these students who described how they have been able to change their thinking, behaviour and emotions because of Chantele’s support.  

Chantele, whose role is supported through a Youth Endowment Fund grant to St Giles, said:  

“The focus should be on more preventative measures… I have lived and grown in this town so I can relate to a lot of the issues that the young people are facing.” 

St Giles provides schools-based mentoring work in 20 schools across five regions helping young people stay safe and diverted away from negative influences.   

Mentoring work of this type has evidence of being effective, shown to provide a 21% reduction in violence, a 14% decrease in all offending and a 19% reduction in reoffending rates (source: Youth Endowment Fund).  

Last year (April 23-March 24), St Giles reached 95,344 individuals through group and one-to-one sessions in schools across England and Wales.  

Watch Chantele’s clip below.

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