Twice as many young people have enrolled in a rehabilitation programme aimed at turning their lives around compared to last year.

In 2007, Government's Mirrors Programme saw 36 young people take part in the programme, but this year 77 have enlisted for the course which runs from June 20 to 28.

The figures were released by the Minister of Culture and Social Rehabilitation Dale Butler, who also appealed for more help from volunteers and businesses.

Mr. Butler said: "It speaks volumes that given the opportunity for something different, some youths will choose to actively change the trajectory of their lives."

The Mirrors Programme, implemented last year, plans to provide intensive intervention for young people already known to employment services, education or the criminal justice system. Last year it successfully transformed the lives of 33 of the 36 people who took part.

They underwent a six-day residential programme in order to determine what was going wrong with their lives and how they could improve.

They are now in month seven of a nine-month follow through phase, where they meet with a life coach three times a week and work to get closer to their goals.

"The programme is designed to help them see that they can, they are not their past and they can succeed," said Mr. Butler.

He continued: "It is not something that one gets and stops, they can use these tools for the rest of their lives and will have the opportunity to deal with life and the challenges that face our community today."

Due to the growing amount of young applicants interested in the Mirrors Programme, Government appealed for more volunteers to get involved and appealed to companies to show their support for the initiative.

Mr. Butler added: "It takes a village to raise a child and it will take a community approach to create positive youth development."