There is a gap that opens up at seventeen. School support ends, children's services step back, and adult services expect you to arrive already knowing how to ask. The young people who fall into it are rarely in crisis on paper. They are just quietly stuck — out of education or drifting through it, less active than they used to be, anxious about the parts of adulthood everyone else seems to have worked out.
Transition Forward is built for exactly that gap. It is a trauma-informed programme for young people aged 17 to 25 across Epping Forest, combining one-to-one mentoring with physical activity that is chosen by the young person and pitched at their level.
That is a deliberate design decision, not a limitation. Young adults who have disengaged once already will often not walk into a room of strangers, and a group session becomes the barrier rather than the way in. So there is no group work and no peer session to get through first — the young person goes from referral straight to an appointment that belongs to them.
Seventy-five minutes, split between talking and moving
Each session pairs a focused conversation with an active element — a walk, a gym session, circuits. The balance between the two is not fixed. Some people say more when they are moving and never sit down; others need a settled space first and take the activity at the end. The mentor reads it session by session.
One session, two halves that flex
The split moves with the person and with the day. Someone who talks more easily while walking does most of it walking. Someone who arrives overwhelmed does the reverse.
Food and drink are part of every session, not an extra. For young people dealing with food insecurity or isolation, that detail matters more than the programme design around it.
A structured sequence, not a set of appointments
Each young person works through two strands in parallel. Ambition runs in the focused conversation — confidence, self-belief, decision-making. Respect runs in the active element, because walking conversation suits that content well.
Developing confidence and self-esteem
Becoming the best version of yourself. Intake, boundaries, access needs, and what they actually want out of this.
Activity taster
Finding something they will genuinely do, tailored to preference and ability. Baseline wellbeing and activity measures are taken here.
Don't beat yourself up
Self-handicapping and self-sabotage — recognising the ways people get in their own way before anyone else does.
Understanding what respect means
An action plan is agreed and signed at this point, in the young person's own words.
Consequential thinking
Your choice, your future. Working through how today's decisions land later.
My self-respect
Mid-point review — what has shifted, what needs changing about the plan.
Controlling your impulses
Long-term benefit against short-term gain, applied to the situations they are actually in.
My relationship respect
Progress recorded against the action plan.
Make it happen
Raising standards and dealing with failure. Goals set towards education, training, employment or the services they need to navigate.
My world respect
Exit measures repeated, destination plan agreed, certificate awarded.
The sequence is a default, not a rule. Someone in crisis at session two stays on stabilisation until they are ready, and the variation is recorded so the journey is still evidenced.
Non-competitive, and no fitness required to start
This is wellbeing-focused activity — confidence, routine and anxiety reduction, not sport performance. Nobody is timed, ranked or watched. The young person chooses at the first session and can change it if it is not landing, because their preference beats the mentor's.
The measure of success here is simple: are they still doing it once the mentoring has finished? We make contact again four weeks after the final session to confirm the destination and check whether the activity has stuck. Sustained activity after the programme ends is the strongest signal that it worked.
Young adults who are stuck rather than in crisis
- Aged 17 to 25 and living in Epping Forest
- Struggling with confidence, self-esteem or emotional wellbeing
- Inactive, isolated, or out of the routines that used to hold the week together
- Not in education, employment or training — or at risk of dropping out
- Making choices they would rather not be making
- Needing help to navigate services designed for adults
Wellbeing and activity levels are measured at the start and again at the end, so progress is evidenced rather than assumed. Safeguarding is handled the same day, every time — and because this cohort is 17 to 25, adult safeguarding routes apply to most participants.