The Scottish Government confirmed its commitment to expand the DBI programme pilots during 2019 to include people under 18 as part of its programme for Government 2018-2019.
It was included in the document titled: Delivering for Today, Investing for Tomorrow: The Government’s Programme for Scotland 2018-19, which was published on the 4 September 2018. (See page 65 on link below: https://www.gov.scot/Resource/0053/00539972.pdf
Welcomimng the news, Kevin O’Neill, national DBI programme manager said: “I’m very pleased with this opportunity to expand the programme to include people under the age of 18.
“There is an expressed desire and a great deal of support from the four regional DBI implementation groups (Lanarkshire, Inverness, Scottish Borders and Aberdeen), the DBI national programme board and partner organisations for the expansion.
“The opportunity to expand is recognition of the incredible collaborative foundations which have been established and continue to be nurtured in support of building connected compassionate support.”
Kevin continued: “I am now working with the Scottish Government and all involved in the DBI programme to set out and agree the programme for achieving this commitment.
“The programme’s first priority will be to engage direct with people with knowledge and experience of supporting young people in distress and most importantly listening to young people themselves.
“This will inform the controlled testing and incremental implementation of DBI initially across the four pilot site for people under 18, throughout 2019.”
