A small, clean room featuring a pale green chair positioned in front of a large wall mural showing a calm lake surrounded by trees under a blue sky. A clear plastic storage box and a white telephone sit on the floor to the right. The room has cream-coloured walls and a polished light-coloured floor, creating a simple, calming environment.
Liverpool has become home to the first youth court support service of its kind on mainland Britain, with the launch of a pioneering new programme designed to help young people and their families navigate the justice system with confidence and understanding.
Young people appearing at Liverpool Combined Youth Court will receive enhanced support through the Merseyside Youth Court Solutions (MYCS) programme, which aims to make the justice process less intimidating, easier to understand and more responsive to the needs of children and young people.
Uniquely, the service provides support not only to young people attending court, but also to parents, carers, victims, witnesses and wider family members throughout the court process.
Delivered through a partnership between the Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership (MVRP), Merseyside Youth Justice Services, HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) and the Crysalys Foundation, it represents a significant step forward in creating a more child-centred, trauma-informed approach to youth justice.
The MYCS programme recognises that many children entering the justice system have experienced trauma, adversity or violence. By embedding a trauma-informed approach throughout the court environment, it ensures young people are seen not simply for their offences, but as individuals with the potential to make positive changes in their lives.
Based at Liverpool’s Queen Elizabeth II courts, the service offers practical and emotional support before, during and after court appearances. Support includes clear information and guidance, interactive digital resources, access to a dedicated Court Navigator, and private welfare spaces designed to reduce anxiety, improve understanding of court proceedings, and make the court experience more accessible and supportive.
Recent improvements to the welfare and briefing spaces have been designed to make the court environment less intimidating and more accessible for young people. The dedicated briefing room has been transformed into a comfortable space, featuring soft furnishings and a striking photographic mural of Liverpool’s skyline, helping to create a calmer and more familiar setting away from the formal courtroom environment.
An interactive LEGO model of a courtroom scene is also available, allowing young people to visualise the layout of the court, understand where key individuals will be seated, and gain a clearer understanding of what to expect during proceedings.
In addition, the court’s holding cell has undergone a trauma-informed redesign, with calming nature-themed wall graphics, softer colours and a less institutional feel. These changes have been introduced to help reduce anxiety, promote wellbeing and ensure young people feel supported and better prepared throughout their time at court.
The Court Navigator role builds on the success of Merseyside’s Custody Navigator programme, which places trauma-informed youth workers in police cells to reach young people at their first point of contact with the justice system.
Launched last year, Navigators provide on-the-day advice, reassurance and practical support while helping young people and families access wider services, including mental health, education, training, housing, substance misuse and financial wellbeing support.
Navigators also work alongside Mersey Care Criminal Justice Liaison and Diversion teams to identify and respond to health, wellbeing and vulnerability needs at the earliest opportunity.
Through early intervention, advice and referrals, the programme tackles the issues that can contribute to offending behaviour, aiming to reduce reoffending, improve life chances and support safer communities.
We are proud to be driving forward Youth Court Solutions and the introduction of Court Navigators as part of a more compassionate and effective approach to youth justice.
Merseyside is leading the way in creating a more supportive court environment, with dedicated spaces, accessible information and on-the-day support designed around the needs of children, families, victims and witnesses.
This joined up approach, funded by the Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership, demonstrates a shared commitment to improving outcomes, supporting positive futures and creating safer communities.
Sharon Brownlow, Youth Justice Lead at the Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership
Too often, when young people encounter the justice system, it reflects wider challenges in their lives, including trauma and unmet need.
Building on the success of our Custody Navigator programme, this pioneering service will help children and families understand the court process, access practical support and feel more confident about what comes next.
It’s a great example of partners working together to create a system that holds young people to account, while giving them the opportunity to learn from their mistakes, move forward, make safer choices and build brighter futures.
Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell
The Crysalys Foundation is an incubator organisation bringing together cross-sector partners to research and innovate for public benefit, focused on childhood trauma.
At Crysalys, we believe every child deserves a positive future. Youth Court Solutions recognises that when a young person becomes involved in the criminal justice system, we must look beyond the offence to understand the underlying experiences of trauma, adversity, and unmet need.
By providing practical support, compassion and hope at the right moment, we can help young people, and their families begin a journey towards safer, healthier and more fulfilling lives.
We know that lasting success is measured not simply by reducing reoffending, important though that is. It is achieved by supporting families, recognising the needs of victims and witnesses, and helping young people break cycles of offending before they become lifelong patterns.
Youth Court Solutions is about creating a more humane, trauma-informed court experience that gives children the chance to make better choices for the future.
Adrian Pryce DL, Chair, Crysalys Foundation
Through this partnership, we are helping to create a court environment that is more accessible and responsive to the needs of young people. By working together to improve understanding and access to support, we can help children and families navigate the justice system with greater confidence.
Clare Beech, Head of Operations, North West Magistrates’ Courts, HMCTS
The next phase of the project will see Merseyside Youth Court Solutions extended into the court witness suite and family court setting. Plans include the development of dedicated family rooms and the introduction of further interactive digital resources to support children, young people, victims, witnesses and families attending court.