User:MPS1992/StreetDoctors

StreetDoctors is a charity which arranges for doctors and trainee doctors to teach basic life-saving skills to young people considered at high risk of involvement in violent crime.

History
StreetDoctors chose to teach the most violent offenders on its courses because of the frequency with which they are first to witness a stabbing.

In 2013 the charity said that hundreds of at-risk children and teenagers were unable to attend its sessions because cuts made by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government had meant that youth offending teams did not have time to schedule the training sessions.

Operations
Each training session is run by three doctors, teaching six youths, and each participant will attend multiple sessions to complete the course. As well as the first aid steps to take when someone has been stabbed, the sessions also cover the potentially life-changing consequences of a stabbing even if the victim does not die, and videos of real victims. The doctors pour red liquid on the floor to give an idea of the volumes of blood loss a stabbing can cause. They also explain how human anatomy means there is no "safe place" to stab someone, a common question from teenagers who feel pressured into carrying knives to defend themselves but do not want to kill.

A doctor involved in running the sessions defended against criticism of educating offenders and potential offenders by saying that most "are not high-level criminals, they are just silly children", and that "young people expect to see violence or be attacked themselves ... they don't feel safe any time of the day". Half of participants had already witnessed a stabbing, and one administered first aid to a stabbing victim and called an ambulance after just one training session. The sessions emphasise how easy it is to inflict or suffer a fatal wound even if neither party intends it, encouraging the participants to rethink their approach to carrying weapons.