'Netflix drama put worrying issues around young people in mainstream'

A FORMER Nottingham Forest foot-baller who runs a mentoring firm which works in schools has wel-comed how young people's issues have been brought to attention by Netflix's hit show Adolescence - saying it's long overdue.

- ZENA HAWLEY

Ben Osborn, who now plays for Derby County, says the show has shone a light on the kinds of problems his company, EFD Sport & Education, encounters every day through the work of its seven-strong team of mentors.

The midfielder, who has also played for Sheffield United, balances his playing career with running his firm alongside Jack Andrews, a former team-mate when the two came through the ranks at Forest.

Its mentors regularly go into primary and secondary schools across Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and South Yorkshire to work with pupils, delivering a personal development curriculum which uses the power of sport to help improve their behavior, attendance and engagement.

Their work means Ben and Jack have met thousands of young people over the past few years and listened to their stories of what it is like to grow up in the UK in 2025.

And, says Ben, their experiences strongly resemble those encountered by the characters in Adolescence, as well as those raised by for-mer England football manager Sir Gareth Southgate, who used his Richard Dimbleby lecture to warn of the dangers of toxic online influencers preying on young people.

Ben said: "Adolescence has brought so many worrying issues into the mainstream and everyone is talking about it, but we've been seeing them every day through our work in schools for years now.

"I'm always shocked by the amount of time young people are spending on social media and the effect it has on them, especially when you see how they are being influenced by the negativity and how it's affecting their attitudes and self-esteem.