Families Plus 2016
Tros Gynnal Plant Introduction Most people know Tros Gynnal Plant as the Welsh Children s Rights Charity which provides Advocacy services for children and young people. However, as well as being the leading provider of Independent Children s Rights and Advocacy Services for children and young people in Wales, Tros Gynnal Plant also has extensive experience of developing and delivering other innovative services to children, young people, families, parents, carers and professionals. This brochure illustrates our service range that we can provide to meet the needs of children, young people and families. All of our services are: 1. Family Focussed - Building on strong foundations and developed to meet the needs of the whole family and producing positive outcomes 2. Bespoke - Adapted to meet local needs and provide a flexible and family/person centred approach. 3. Integrated - Working closely with local authority, health and voluntary sector service areas. 4. Proactive - With an ethos of working alongside families and young people to empower and help them find long term solutions to the problems they are experiencing. 2
5. Intensive Our highly skilled, flexible and diverse staff team, are able to provide rapid response ensuring that families and young people receive timely services that are consistent and measured 6. Local - We have project bases across Wales and a history of taking services to families and children in their homes and communities. Our workers are experienced and qualified to work with children, young people, families, parents, carers and professionals on an individual or group basis. The Tros Gynnal Plant services include: Team Around the Family Families First Freephone Restorative Approaches Restorative Approaches Family Engagement Project Domestic Abuse Restorative Family Approaches Restorative Approaches (Conflict Resolution) Restorative Approaches Family Engagement Family Advocacy Counselling including CBT Play Therapy Child Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) Bespoke Training for Carers and Professionals Consultation & Participation For further information please contact: Mike Clark or Rhiannon Beaumont-Walker 029 2039 6974 admin@trosgynnalplant.org.uk 3
Family Services Services Page Number Restorative Approaches 5 Restorative Approaches Family Engagement Project 6 Domestic Abuse Restorative Family Approaches 6 Team around the Family 7 Families First Freephone 7 Family Group Meetings 8 Restorative Approaches (Conflict Resolution) 9 Family Advocacy 9 Therapeutic Services Insight Counselling 10 Play Therapy 11 Child Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) 12 Other Bespoke Training Packages 13 Participation and Consultation 13 4
Family Services Restorative Approaches Restorative Approaches (RA) is an ethos and value base for working with people, rather than doing to or for them, wherever possible. Its aim is the building up, maintaining and where necessary repairing of relationships. the Family, Family Group Meetings and Family Conflict. RA delivery within the specific projects involves one of the interventions below. Tros Gynnal Plant is committed to the development of a restorative mindset within the organisation and the use of RA as an approach for all of its employees in all of its services. RA includes both preventative and responsive work but always adopts the same value base that includes non-judgement, openness, transparency, mutual respect and inclusion. RA offers an overarching framework, mindset and language for consistent multi-agency work and collaboration. In addition to adopting a Restorative Framework for the organisation, Tros Gynnal Plant also has projects utilising explicit RA approaches including Team around Restorative Enquiry Restorative Conversation Restorative Meeting Each intervention may be an end in itself or may lead to another depending on identified needs. Within any RA intervention key questions are asked What Happened? What were you thinking and what were you feeling? Who has been affected? Restorative Family Meeting What do you need to move on? What could happen now and what could you do? Family Group Meeting 5
Restorative Approaches Family Engagement Project (RAFEP) RAFEP is a Welsh Government funded project that aims to increase the engagement of seldom heard groups by utilising Restorative Approaches methodology and skills. To do this, the project is delivering Restorative Approaches training to third sector professionals across all 22 local authorities in Wales and is following the training with bespoke mentoring, support and guidance to help practitioners implement and embed the skills in to practice. The project is also delivering Restorative Approaches training directly to parents in all 22 local authorities to help them develop their conflict resolution skills and develop their communication, relationships and conflict resolving strategies. Domestic Abuse Restorative Family Approaches (DARFA) Tros Gynnal Plant has been working as part of the DARFA consortium to develop the use of Restorative Approaches with families experiencing Domestic Abuse. The consortium has developed the Choices for Change model which is a restorative, whole family intervention drawing on the skills, knowledge and experience of a range of agencies including Wales Restorative Approaches Partnership, Stteps, and Brightlink Learning. The model is replicable and DARFA can provide consultancy, training and ongoing support to enable others to implement it. 6
Team Around the Family (TAF) The Team around the Family is a multi-agency approach which coordinates, targets, and tailors provision towards families needs, supported by a team of family practitioners operating to prevent escalation to statutory services. The implementation of the Team around the Family model in Cardiff utilises Restorative Approaches and Family Group Meeting methodology and is intended to change the way all services work with Families. The Team around the Family model in Cardiff is implemented by a core team of family practitioners who put into place the arrangements for identifying, assessing and responding to families who need a Team around the Family approach. Families First Freephone The Families First Freephone is a new addition to the Families First services in Cardiff for people that aren t sure about the different services that are available and how to access them. The Freephone was set up to provide information about Families First services over the phone and where necessary to visit families who would like support with understanding their needs and accessing appropriate services. Due to the success of the service the Freephone team will now be providing a service alongside colleagues from Cardiff Children s Services to develop and deliver an effective service as a first point of contact for families requiring information, advice and assistance. The team seek to engage providers of services to children, young people and their families as members of Teams Around the Family, as appropriate to the families assessed needs and whether funded through Families First or not. 7
Family Group Meetings Family Group Meetings are a way of making decisions about children by involving the extended family in the planning and decision making process. They are used to enable families to self-assess, draw on their own resources and make decisions as to the involvement of other services. resolve issues prior to any professional involvement; helping a parent get support from family and friends, to prevent the need for greater professional intervention at the child in need stage and involving the wider family in contributing to safety measures and monitoring a child protection plan for families at the child protection stage. The aim is to empower the family to come up with solutions that are acceptable both to them and to any professionals involved rather than have professionals impose decisions. The responsibility for the solutions and their implementation is then shared between the families and any professionals involved. Family Group Meetings can be used with any family where plans or decisions need to be made and have proved particularly effective when working with families resistant to other services and interventions. Family Group Meetings have successfully been used with families at all stages of intervention. Examples include: helping families to communicate effectively and Family Group Meetings are also used with families engaged in both public and private law proceedings and have consistently achieved positive outcomes for all involved. The success of Family Group Meeting interventions are measured by outcomes not outputs. 8
Restorative Approaches (Conflict Resolution) RA (Conflict Resolution) works where there is conflict between individuals. An RA practitioner encourages parties to focus on building, nurturing and when needed, the repairing of relationships. This approach leads to a focus on the future and on problem solving strategies rather than the problems of the past. An RA practitioner works with all parties involved in the conflict/dispute giving them an equal voice, the opportunity to take responsibility for their actions, make amends and reduce the chances of the incident reoccurring. Family Advocacy Family Advocacy works with families where the parents/carers and the children want the same thing and empowers parents and, where appropriate, children, to participate in formal meetings. It promotes good communication and a positive working relationship between the family and the organisation. Family advocates help families understand information, procedures and how to participate effectively and help families to make informed choices, they do not make decisions for them. Families are given support, information and advice from an independent advocate to be able to participate effectively. Family advocates help families communicate with Social Services, Schools/Education Departments, Health Providers or other organisations with whom they have contact. Families can only have an advocate when there is the agreement of all the family members involved. 9
Therapeutic Services Insight Counselling Insight is an intensive counselling service for young people who are identified as being eligible for the service. It is provided on a weekly basis for an initial period of 6 weeks. The service is tailored to meet the needs of young people so the number of sessions provided varies for each young person. The service is provided by a qualified counsellor who has experience of working closely with young people and is therefore able to provide a comfortable, accessible environment which the young person can relate to. It is a friendly, accessible service, allowing young people to access responsive, supportive counselling in a convenient venue, at a time that is convenient for them. Insight provides therapeutic support and intervention to young people in relation to all issues, including bereavement, separation and attachment issues, trauma, anxiety, abuse, depression and anger management. The aim of the Insight service is to support young people to build their confidence and self awareness and to focus on their future progression in order to achieve their potential. Referrals received by the Insight service require an early response and intensive work by the counsellor to establish a therapeutic working relationship with the young person. 10
Play Therapy Play Therapy is an effective therapy, provided by qualified and experienced BAPT registered Play Therapists that helps children modify their behaviours, clarify their self-concept and build healthy relationships. Psychological difficulties include depression, anxiety, aggression, learning difficulties and ADHD. In Play Therapy, children enter into a dynamic relationship with the therapist that enables them to express, explore and make sense of their difficult and painful experiences. Play Therapy helps children find healthier ways of communicating, develop fulfilling relationships, increase resiliency and facilitate emotional literacy. Children use play as a form of communication. So often children referred to Play Therapy do not have the words to describe their thoughts, feelings and perceptions of their internal and external world. Play Therapists work with children aged between three and eleven years of age, and occasionally adolescents, suffering from a range of psychological difficulties and complex life experiences. Difficult life experiences include abuse, grief, family breakdown, domestic violence and trauma. A professionally trained Play Therapist helps a child to increase insight, resiliency, coping and emotional literacy and to decrease internal conflict. Play Therapists work closely with the child's parents / carers throughout the play therapy intervention and when appropriate, undertake parent-child relationship interventions. 11
Child Parent Relationship Therapy Child Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) is a 10 session Filial Therapy model. Filial Therapy is a unique approach used by professionals trained in play therapy to train parents/carers to be therapeutic agents with their own children. which is the child s natural mode of expression. CPRT has been successfully used with amongst others, birth parents, family carers, foster carers, adoptive carers and dads in prison. Research has shown this to be a highly effective, culturally inclusive method of affecting positive change for families. In the CPRT model, parents/carers are taught basic child-centred play therapy principles and skills, including reflective listening, recognising and responding to children s feelings, therapeutic limit setting, building children s self esteem and structuring required weekly play sessions with their children using a special kit of selected toys. Rather than teach parents/carers strategies to change their child or to problem-solve, this approach emphasises the parent/carer-child relationship. CPRT empowers parents/carers to help their children and uses play 12
Other Bespoke Training Packages Tros Gynnal Plant delivers bespoke training packages to young people, families, community groups and professionals. These include specialist training on advocacy, non-instructed advocacy, children s rights, child protection, communicating with young people with communication difficulties, Restorative Approaches and Restorative Engagement. These are delivered as part of a rolling training programme, with enquiries and bookings welcomed. Other training sessions or packages can be specifically developed to meet your needs. Training / information sessions can also be provided on any of the Tros Gynnal Plant Services. Participation and Consultation Tros Gynnal Plant ensures all their services involve the participation of the people the services are provided for. All services are designed, developed and provided with the support of advisory groups of service users. These advisory groups support the organisation to shape services to meet the needs of the people accessing those services. Tros Gynnal Plant are also experienced in running research projects, consultation events and advising on consultation with children, young people, families and professionals working with families. Adhering to the National Participation Standards, Tros Gynnal Plant designs, delivers and reports on identified areas of consultation, ensuring full accessibility and feedback to participants. For further information on any of the services please contact: Mike Clark or Rhiannon Beaumont-Walker 029 20 39 6974 or admin@trosgynnalpant.org.uk 13