One of our goals is to ensure that our employees have the necessary skills, knowledge and ability to meet our business objectives.

Krossroads Ethos is to offer our young people a “positive parenting experience”; this means firm boundaries, structure, and positive affirmations.

Krossroads welcome ALL young people to our service with an open mind and a clean slate, giving the young person the chance to put their self-destructive behaviours behind them and find a positive way of managing themselves and their feelings.

We support our young people by:

• Building relationships and trust.
• Firm boundaries and nurturing.
• Structure and consistency.
• Patience - Loads of it!
• Guidance.
• We do not give up on them easily.
• We teach them how to positively take control.
• Building self-esteem and self confidence.

When a young person first enters Krossroads they never want to be there – coming from their home borough to North London takes them out of their comfort zone. Some vote with their feet and are brought back at a later date by the police. Some choose not to engage, are defiant and break house rules e.g. smoking in their rooms or even in the lounge or kitchen.

Some choose to create problems which may result in the staff having to call the police. We make it very clear that even if they commit an offence and they get charged we will still take them back, and they have to face the consequences of their behaviour. Krossroads rarely – and I mean rarely – close a placement!

After the forming, storming, and norming of moving into a new placement with a new peer group, the young people, without realising it, start performing at their own pace. However big or small their achievements are, to us it is progress, and we support them to build on this and build their confidence and self-esteem. For those young people who do stay at Krossroads they eventually say “This is our family and home”, and when they leave they always come back to visit or stay in touch.