Laura Evans

Meet Laura

My background

I am a Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) qualified Youth Worker and a British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) registered Adolescent Counsellor

I have experience in youth work and therapeutic practice. I started my career working with young people, helping those most at risk of being excluded. I also learned a lot about how to build positive relationships and early intervention.

Since then, I have held senior leadership roles in the voluntary sector, including as CEO of a family support organisation. There, I developed and expanded therapeutic and early help services in schools and communities. 

Where I work and what I do

I am the Director and Safeguarding Lead at Aptitude Organisation CIC. This means I am in charge of creating and running youth work and mentoring programmes that are officially approved.

I am also a qualified therapeutic counsellor (MBACP), with specialist training in working with children and young people. MBACP is a suffix that registered members of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) can use. 

I have a Level 5 Diploma in Counselling Children and Young People. A Level 5 Diploma is a high-level qualification and similar to the second year of a university Bachelor's degree.

I am currently doing Postgraduate study in Child, Adolescent and Family Wellbeing. A Postgraduate study is any education or training undertaken after graduation with a first degree (a Bachelor's degree/undergraduate degree).

My approach is based on understanding trauma, building relationships, and creating safe spaces where people can trust each other.

The areas that I am researching

Our research will look at how we can improve the design, delivery, and evaluation of early-stage wellbeing programmes for young people.

We are particularly interested in understanding what has the biggest impact on young people's mental health when we get involved early on, and how we can turn this into effective programmes that can be used widely.

An important part of this work is creating a strong Theory of Change and Logic Model. A Theory of Change explains why someone thinks a project will work. A Logic Model shows what people will do to make it work. They are two different tools often used together to plan and test programs.

These will clearly explain how our activities lead to better results. We will also explore and test the best ways to measure change and impact.

We will focus on tools that are based on evidence and easy for young people to use. This includes making sure the staff feel confident and know how to use these tools, with training provided by us.

We are also dedicated to using more qualitative research methods to better understand what young people go through. We will work with young people to design the programme and decide how to evaluate it. This will make sure they have a say in what "meaningful change" looks like.

By using both quantitative data (from systems like Upshot) and richer qualitative insights (such as case studies and stories told by young people), we will understand the impact of our work better. 

This research will help us to show how our work makes a difference. It will also help us to include learning in our training for youth workers, which will improve practice in the sector.