Family Outreach Programme

What is the Family Outreach Programme?

This brand new programme provides focused support and intervention for vulnerable families. We will tap into the specialist Social Work experience within our team to work alongside vulnerable families to strengthen and bolster the system around the child which will, in turn, allow the child to thrive.

Who is it aimed at?

The project aims to support vulnerable families who walk the challenging and never-ending referral cycle between their GP, Paediatricians, Social Care, EWMHS and who call for continued support from schools.

• These families often do not meet the threshold for social care, statutory support, diagnostic support or mental health services such as EWMHS but their need is great.
• Support from school, whilst invaluable, is often provided because no one else will ‘help’ and can leave everyone feeling frustrated and, at times, ineffective.

This project enables us to directly support families who have repeated experiences of professionals having disappointed them by closing a case, not being able to justify or continue much needed support, or who don’t take the time to hear the script of a family. As a result of this, parents/carers can feel distrustful, unheard and abandoned by professionals. We work with these families to bridge communication between home, school and external services, as well as enhance communication within the home setting.

What do we do?

Our assessment allows us to understand the context of a family’s dysfunction and to pinpoint where our intervention is best placed. We will be able to analyse what is working well, what needs to go under the microscope and how we best use our skillset to ensure positive outcomes for a family. Our sole focus will be on identifying and working to build and strengthen the system around a child, so that the system can operate with confidence and autonomy.

• This includes practical support such as TAF meetings, contact with partner agencies and key services.
• Our work is based on the principle of empowerment, working with families, supporting them into universal services until they are able to manage without support.
• Our work involves bolstering - breaking into manageable pieces, building confidence and resilience, and thereby increasing parental capacity to cope with challenges.
• It includes therapeutic support such as empowering a struggling parent/carer to know what their strengths are.We will also support them to understand the importance of being available and present when their child feels overwhelmed, let down and disheartened.

Costings

Our current Service Level Agreement rates apply for this project. It may be that you decide therapy is not the only or the best fit for the children in your care in school.

Our Family Outreach Programme means you can buy in our services for one morning a week, for example, and we can reach out to and engage up to 3 families during this time.

For further information about our Family Outreach Programme, please email Catherine Munns our Head of School Services and Clinical Development.

Parent: My support worker has been coming round every Tuesday and she is a great support to me and my family. She has helped me in many ways and is very friendly and welcoming. I think the service is a great idea as it means helping vulnerable families that are in need of that support. My children have exceptionally warmed to our bccs worker and my toddler never wants her to leave; she has a great interaction with children and serves her purpose of her job very well.

Head teacher: Having our bccs worker working directly with the families has been a wonderful extension of our school pastoral team. It has enabled our school's therapeutic approach to extend beyond the school gates into the family home.