What is the effectiveness of interventions to support the mental and emotional health and wellbeing of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET)? A rapid review

This rapid review was conducted as part of the Evidence Service’s collaboration with Heath and Care Research Wales

Next update: Update not planned

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Introduction

With mental health problems in young people rising over the last decade, there has been focus on understanding ways to support young people’s emotional and mental wellbeing needs. While initiatives like the ‘whole school approach to emotional and mental wellbeing’ are valuable, it is important to better understand what support is available to young people in the community who may not be able to access school services. An estimated 13.5% of young people are not in education, employment or training (NEET). Research suggests that this group experience higher rates of mental health concerns. It is therefore important to understand the effectiveness of interventions for young people who are NEET.

This study aimed to identify and evaluate interventions supporting the mental and emotional health and wellbeing of young people who are NEET. 

Main points

How up to date is this evidence?

The literature searches were conducted in June 2025. Included studies were published between 2013 and 2025.

What we found

Nine studies were used in this review, covering a range of countries and interventions. Types of intervention included: psychological, nature-based, animal assisted, social prescribing (connecting people with community-based services to support wellbeing) and holistic coaching (supporting individual wellbeing needs across a range of areas of life).

Overall, the evidence shows a range of interventions can be used to support young people who are NEET, with studies suggesting that:

• psychological interventions may be effective in improving social and occupational wellbeing and promoting emotion regulation.
• nature-based interventions may be helpful in improving social connection and building social, emotional and behavioural skills. It may also be more effective in promoting resilience and reducing experiences of depression and anxiety.
• animal assisted interventions may improve social skills and for some young people can support self-esteem.
• social prescribing interventions may improve mental wellbeing and reduce psychological distress for young people who are NEET.
• holistic coaching interventions may improve sense of wellbeing, access to peer support resources, knowledge of and access to services and connection to learning and earning opportunities.

Young people engaged with and were empowered by interventions, identifying factors that were particularly helpful, including: the relationship with those delivering interventions, emotional and physical support, safe spaces to discuss emotions and opportunities to engage with animals and nature. 

However, confidence in this evidence is limited, as most of the outcomes were evaluated by only a single study.

What this means

Policy and practice implications

While the evidence base identified was limited in number and quality, the findings may help to inform the development and delivery of interventions in young people who are NEET.  Interventions to support mental and emotional health and wellbeing were generally well accepted by young people who are NEET and gave rise to wellbeing benefits, although implementation of some interventions may be limited by other factors (e.g., staff training, funding/resource availability).

Research implications and evidence gaps

Further robust evaluation should be considered in developing and implementing interventions for young people who are NEET. Additionally, future research assessing long-term effectiveness would deepen understanding of how best to support the needs of young people who are NEET.

Economic considerations

National health service (NHS) and wider societal perspectives should be considered when evaluating the economic impact of delivering interventions for young people who are NEET. 

Young people who are NEET have economic potential if they can be supported into employment, education or training.

Technical information

Our Rapid Reviews use a variation of the systematic review approach, abbreviating or omitting some components to generate the evidence to inform stakeholders promptly whilst maintaining attention to bias. The aim of this rapid review is to identify the effectiveness of interventions to support mental and emotional health and wellbeing in young people who are NEET.

Glossary

Rapid review: Is a form of evidence synthesis that accelerates the process of conducting a traditional systematic review to produce evidence in a time-sensitive manner, usually to inform urgent healthcare decisions.

Systematic review: A review that summarises the evidence on a clearly formulated review question according to a predefined protocol, using systematic and explicit methods to identify, select and appraise relevant studies, and to extract, analyse, collate and report their findings. It may or may not use statistical techniques, such as meta-analysis.

Lay summary author: Olivia Gallen, Public Partnership Group Member