YOUNG offenders and drug users should be seen as children and young people first ... rather than just as problems.
That's the view of Connect, a service which wants to help teenagers who've entered into crime and substance abuse to turn their lives around.
These days the elderly live in fear because youngsters are regarded as violent, abusive and, all-to-often, hooked on drugs and alcohol.
But the Connect team says the reality is that the most vulnerable in our society are young people themselves.
The 14 members of staff in Connect recognise that some teenagers do have problems and anti-social behaviour can have a huge impact on other people's lives too, and they are here to try and change that.
Connect's team manager, Matthew Davis, says: ''You have to remember that very often young people have been offended against as well.
"There is this idea that the elderly are at risk and that crime is committed on an old population.
''In fact, they're the least at risk – you are much more at risk if you are in a poor area and if you are aged between 12 and 15.
"If you look at the government statistics, offending is decreasing across the board, yet, as a society, we're more and more frightened by crime and, as you get older, you become more fearful.
"We're trying to sell the fact that young people have needs and we're meeting those needs rather than focusing on one aspect of behaviour."
The group was set up three years ago and it is unique in Scotland in the way that it brings together agencies so that when the clients, aged 12-18, walk into the premises on Etna Road, Falkirk, they are entering a 'one-stop shop' that can tackle all sorts of problems.
Under one roof they'll find social workers, youth workers and nurses ready to help, whether it's weaning them off substances, helping them back into education or stop them committing crimes.
Matthew said: "You can come through one door whether you've got mental health problems or drug issues.
"We've got a nurse in the building who specialises in working with young people with substance abuse difficulties, you can see a social worker or you can talk to a community education worker about getting into college.
"It means young people are not getting referred from pillar to post, all their needs are met in one place."
To stop youngsters committing crimes and making nuisances of themselves, Connect believes they have to be integrated back into their communities.
Matthew can point to the success stories that prove it, such as the 12-week parenting skills course it runs – with volunteers who know what they are talking about.
"It's like pyramid selling,'' says Matthew. ''People are passing on their skills by running a group for others. There are no experts but sharing those skills works very effectively for our clients."
And that's not the only way in which Connect uses peer education.
"Here, young people who have managed to turn their lives around work with other young people to encourage them to make better choices," says Matthew.
"If you've got lots to lose you don't want to lose it. If you haven't got a lot to lose you're more likely to take more risks.
"It's all about getting them back into education and employment. They've got to be stakeholders in their communities so we work with other agencies like schools and colleges and even mainstream youth clubs, just trying to give them stuff to do."
It's a familiar enough cry that young people hang about in gangs, drinking and getting into trouble because there isn't enough to do.
And many of the young people who find themselves going to Connect don't have much going on in their lives.
So, if they are excluded from youth clubs, the community, education workers will look at why they've been excluded, and how they can get them to go back.
Connect also tries to highlight services that already exist for children, but Matthew believes more could be done ... by everyone.
He said: "People are putting the responsibility on to agencies like the police and social workers, but, if you look at youth clubs, you can't get people to run them.
''It's the same with organisations like the Scouts – people haven't got time, everyone is working long hours. We don't spend any time with young people.
"There clearly are young people out there under the influence of alcohol and such like and that's a worry – that's where we come in – but we all need to take responsibility."

kirsty.paterson@falkirkherald.co.uk