Giving young people a sense of purpose to tackle social deprivation

Career guidance and training are also the focus of Back On, which is supported by the Lombardy Region and the European Social Fund and will address the issue of young NEETs in Italia (young people who are neither in education nor employment, and who have fallen off the radar of educational institutions and local social services) by setting up a helpdesk to identify the most suitable candidates for involvement, providing educational coaching and support to help them reconnect with society and the world of work. “Here too,” Musacchio points out, “the focus is entirely on building concrete educational or vocational prospects, so that young people are then ready to enter the world of work step by step.”

Synergy serves as a common thread in A New Port, which envisages ‘the refurbishment of the Foundation’s premises on the one hand, and, on the other, a socio-educational regeneration programme, as it will transform our headquarters into a unique ecosystem dedicated to tackling youth hardship, promoting social inclusion and fostering independence in the workplace, thereby tripling our capacity to respond’. An ambitious project, supported by a partnership with the Cariplo Foundation, the Lombardy Region and the Prime Minister’s Office.

Reaching out to teenagers before their misbehaviour becomes structural behaviour is, however, the mission of ‘Another Gang in the City: Turning Misbehaviour into Growth’, a project conceived in Pavia by the association Gli Sdraiati and part of a local prevention scheme funded by the provincial ATS and the Lombardy Region.

“We started in March and will continue throughout 2026,” explains Luca Dinatale, the association’s president. “Although our initial plan was broader – covering both work with young people and with families – and we hope to be able to implement this in the future if we can secure the necessary resources, the programme we have developed offers mindfulness workshops designed to foster a deeper understanding of young people and their families, as well as group workshops led by psychotherapists and educators. The idea is to focus on educating young people in managing their emotions, encouraging them to engage with the reflective dimension and to integrate reflection with a more embodied emotional experience’.

A step which, according to Dinatale, ‘can help them recognise what they are feeling, cope with anger or frustration, and learn to ask for help before their distress leads to far more dangerous behaviour’. And this forms part of a range of initiatives which, whilst not having this as their stated aim, have the side effect of contributing to prevention and tackling the issue – from ‘A Tailor-Made School’ to combating school drop-out among adolescents who struggle to fit into the school system and who are therefore supported both in their learning and through psychological support after school, right through to the psychological counselling service in lower and upper secondary schools - and aim to ‘intervene when deviant behaviour is not yet established, when the the first warning signs and change is still possible’. Not punitive measures against young people, therefore, but always standing by their side.

What is clear is that understanding youth distress requires cooperation from all parties (whether directly or indirectly involved), and attributing it to a single root cause is incorrect. “Behind different attitudes lie different experiences, motivations and developmental paths,” concludes Dinatale. “I don’t believe that young people today are more violent, but it all seems to stem from the fact that certain forms of distress are changing; they are more visible and more amplified, even by social media. And violent behaviour never arises out of the blue; rather, it is often the final chapter in a story made up of small warning signs, difficulties at school, a lack of investment in education, social exclusion and a lack of boundaries.”

In this interplay of dimensions, that of the family remains one of the most sensitive areas to work within. Amongst other things, the Nuovi Legami Family Centre provides support for parenting; it is a long-standing service that is now firmly established in the capital and in the 7th municipal district. “Since the post-Covid period, the centre has seen an increase in demand linked to rising levels of distress amongst young people, particularly in relation to the difficulties families are experiencing with their children,” explains Angela Aurelio, a psychologist and psychotherapist trained in family psychotherapy and the psychoanalysis of children and adolescents.

“We have therefore set up various initiatives: a free counselling and psychological support service for residents of Municipal District 7, which focuses both on listening and on reframing the individual’s problems to help them gain greater self-awareness and set in motion a process of growth beyond the crisis,” explains Aurelio. “Furthermore, over the last ten years, we have run various projects to tackle youth distress and violence, offering individual or group support to both children and parents. Those involved have created a space for dialogue and mutual support, rediscovering the value of the parent-child relationship, redefining the role and recognising stereotypes and clichés surrounding parenthood and adolescence, in order to establish new avenues for connection and mutual understanding’. Finally, there were “a wide range of activities carried out in schools, awareness-raising initiatives and educational counselling programmes for adults”.

Because the greatest responsibility for facilitating the inclusion of the most vulnerable young people lies precisely with the adults. Parents, teachers, social workers. The community. Services and institutions.

According to Federica Federici, a psychologist and family and relationship psychotherapist, ‘behind this distress lies the fear of growing up in a competitive and hostile world. And violence seems to be the only way to defend oneself and survive. We must not fall into the trap of absolving them of responsibility, which would result from leaving them to face the consequences of actions of which they are often unaware on their own.” That is why, now more than ever, we need to ‘strengthen financial resources and support measures that enable them to feel seen, understood and supported. With stable adults who can act as role models and guides’.

This approach is directly reflected in the work of Nuovi Legami. “Thanks to our multi-disciplinary team, we have established partnerships with schools. And we have worked extensively with families through various parenting support initiatives to help parents understand and take responsibility for the needs of their children,” concludes Federici. Sometimes, for example, by supporting them in accessing external resources “to enable young people to take part in activities at local community centres or to ensure they receive appropriate healthcare where critical issues arise”.

This is a view also shared by Adriana Rosasco, Councillor for Social Policies at Rome VII Borough Council. “As a borough council, we are working on Local Education Agreements, involving schools, services and the public to build a robust social system where the younger generations can see signs of hope for the future. And we have promoted projects on sex and relationship education in local secondary schools, in collaboration with anti-violence centres to address the issues of respect and consent”.

Because banging your fist without engaging in dialogue achieves very little: ‘We believe in prevention, not in harsher or earlier sentencing. We need to work with young people to foster a culture of respect and a fairer society, because a fairer society is a safer society.’

Finally, active participation and initiatives in the suburbs are the areas on which in Naples will be working over the next four years ‘Ali d’Oro’ and ‘EudAmOnia!’, the projects selected by the social enterprise Con i Bambini, involving over three thousand young people. The first will operate in six municipalities, whilst the second will focus on the outlying areas to the north, west and east, where high levels of social and economic poverty are recorded and educational, it will also carry out prevention and screening initiatives to support the public service, offering psychological support through educational and sporting activities.