Olliers Solicitors is preparing to take on a 100ft charity abseil in support of Greater Manchester Youth Network (GMYN).
Olliers is fundraising for the charity as part of a landmark three-year partnership aimed at keeping neurodivergent young people out of the criminal justice system.
Olliers’ managing director Matthew Claughton will lead his team and partners from GMYN in free-hanging 100ft above a gorge at Millers Dale Viaduct in the Peak District on 5 September. The Manchester-headquartered criminal defence specialists are taking on one of the country’s most dramatic abseils to raise funds for the Seen, Heard, Diverted campaign.
The campaign, launched in partnership with GMYN, aims to raise £30,000 over three years to build a prevention pathway for neurodivergent children who come into contact with the youth justice system. Research shows that around 80% of children cautioned or sentenced in UK courts are neurodivergent, despite neurodivergent people making up only 15% of the general population.
Matthew Claughton said: “Every day, our team sees vulnerable young people fall foul of a system that simply doesn’t understand them – sensory meltdowns mistaken for aggression, difficulty with eye contact read as defiance rather than what it actually is.
“This isn’t a youth crime wave. It’s a systemic failure to understand neurodivergence, and it’s criminalising vulnerability instead of addressing it.
“The abseil is a small thing compared to what these young people go through, but every pound raised gets us closer to building something that actually changes their outcomes.”
Seen, Heard, Diverted will fund a three-strand delivery model across all 10 Greater Manchester local authorities, providing rights-awareness training and safe activity spaces for young people, support toolkits and coaching for parents and carers, and training for police officers, solicitors and magistrates to help prevent behaviour being misread and de-escalate crisis points before they lead to criminalisation.
The abseil follows the firm’s completion of the Tatton Park 10k in July, part of a wider programme of fundraising activity Olliers has committed to over the life of the partnership, alongside firm funding and time spent mentoring young people directly.
To support the campaign, visit JustGiving page: justgiving.com/page/olliers-1
