Turn the tide against the rising rates of poor mental health and wellbeing
Kailo amplifies the voices and experiences of young people, enabling them to collaborate with community partners and local professionals.
Together, we are making prevention a reality by understanding and addressing the root causes of young people’s mental health and wellbeing.
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Shaped by insights from
The impact Kailo can achieve
By strengthening partnerships and amplifying young people’s voices and agency, Kailo creates a shared, locally tailored mission.
This approach shapes and bolsters the strategic priorities and plans of health systems and local authorities. Furthermore, it enhances the understanding of existing community assets and infrastructures all whilst promoting aligned, coordinated and mutually reinforcing policies and services. This results in improved mental health outcomes and additional benefits related to education, health, safety, welfare, and opportunity.
Unleash potential across the system
Young Person
Short term
Contribute to change in their local communityMedium Term
Agency to shape and inform local decision-makingLong term
Improvements in mental health and wellbeingCommunity Partners
Short term
Create opportunities for dynamic collaborationMedium Term
Voice at the decision-making tableLong term
Tighter integration with public servicesSystem Leaders
Short term
Deeper insight into community needsMedium Term
Evidence-informed strategic planningLong term
More impactful and economical policies and servicesA non-linear approach
Achieving meaningful change across systems requires a different approach.
Kailo is a flexible, customisable framework, fully adaptable to local needs and contexts. It aims to strengthen and add value to local partnerships, building on existing efforts, whilst striving towards specific objectives identified.
Some areas may wish to place greater emphasis on better understanding of local needs and prioritising strategic direction; others may require greater attention on co-designing responses and implementing actions. Kailo is a great fit for both, and many more situations – as an iterative process that allows initiatives to build, evolve, and become embedded over time.
Kailo at a glance
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Local leaders build a shared understanding of the commitment, time and resources required to embed and deliver within their system. They will consider how Kailo best adds value to the local context.
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A process of community-centred research and insight gathering to better understand what matters most for young people’s mental health and wellbeing in the areas they live, work and play. This creates local priorities for action and a shared mission.
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Bringing together the insights of young people, community partners and professionals to develop a deeper and shared understanding of local priorities. Then drawing upon evidence to co-design viable strategies to deliver these improvements.
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Putting the co-designed strategies and policies into practice: working with system leaders and partners to resource and implement what is designed. Iteratively testing and refining to enhance and sustain impact within the local system.
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Integrating Kailo into the local system infrastructure. Capacity, governance arrangements and commissioning processes are shaped to enable iterative cycles of discovery and co-design. Over time, these create a coordinated portfolio of strategies to sustain and affect change.
FAQs
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What does the word Kailo mean?
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The word Kailo has Indo-European roots. It means connected and whole.
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Who are the organisations involved in Kailo?
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There are many organisations involved in Kailo. University College London and Dartington Service Design Lab have led the research and design programme consortium leading the development of the Kailo Framework. This also involved UCLPartners, the Anne Freud Centre, University of Exeter and Shift. Community organisations included Ambition Aspire Achieve, Caramelrock, Exit Foundation, Newham Community Project and Fight for Piece in Newham, and Way Makers, Sunrise Diversity, Northern Devon Voluntary Sector, Spark Uk, Family Compass and Space in Northern Devon.
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Where has Kailo been implemented?
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Between June 2022 and now Kailo is being implemented in two sites Northern Devon and Newham. The first is a rural area in the Southwest of England, and the former is a London borough. You can read more about the outputs from these sites here and here.
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We have already identified key areas we want to work on, do we have to start from the beginning of the framework?
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We recognise that different places will be at different points on their systems change journey, so this framework is for you decide how you will find it most useful. We would suggest that you sense-check where you have got to in relation to your local priorities and whether there is anything additional you could do to ensure that youth and community voices, and the wider system have been involved in this prioritisation, but otherwise, you can jump to wherever is helpful in the framework.
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Is Kailo Trauma-informed?
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Yes, Kailo is trauma-informed because it prioritises safety, trust, choice, collaboration and empowerment in its approach to young people and community engagement. The Kailo Framework offers tools and guidance which are focused on ensuring that interactions with and between community members are grounded in an understanding of people’s lived and learned experiences. By fostering a safe and respectful environment, Kailo aims to create spaces where individuals feel supported and understood. Finally, Kailo also is implemented on the local level to ensure local relevance and understanding of personal and community needs.
Walk through Kailo
Welcome pack