The Mental Skills Training for Life programme for Homeless Young People

Cover Case Study 127

This Housing LIN Case Study No 127 outlines how the Mental Skills Training for Life (MST4LIFE) programme takes a novel approach to helping homeless young people gain the confidence and resilience required to engage in education, employment, and training, with the end goal of allowing them to successfully lead independent lives as adults.

As a collaboration led by the University of Birmingham and a West Midlands youth homeless charity St Basils, the programme is based on interventions more commonly done in sport to help athletes enhance performance and achieve their potential. Launched in 2014, the MST4LIFE has since been delivered to over 150 young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.