Update from the Intensive Family Support Teams (IFST)

The Intensive Family Support teams work with families with multiple and complex needs who would benefit from intensive support.

Up until recently the teams were set up in 5 areas but they have recently reorganised to operate as quadrants and are now represented as follows:-

East Herts, Broxbourne & Welwyn Hatfield Manager: Janine Culpin	Watford, Three Rivers and Hertsmere Manager: Debbie Stone
North Herts & Stevenage: Manager: Lauren Penrose	Dacorum & St Albans Manager: Penny Smith

The help they provide depends on each family's situation, but examples of issues they help with include:

• parenting skills
• improving school attendance
• training to help find a job
• help with housing problems
• managing money and debt.

There is no age focus for the service, as long as there is a dependent child (under 18) in the family.

The focus instead is to provide practical support to the whole family, when there is evidence of 4 of the following presenting issues being a concern to professionals across more than 1 family member, or the family are identified as requiring intensive whole family support which no other services are available to provide:

• parents or children involved in crime or anti-social behaviour
• children who have not been attending school regularly
• children who need help (for example they have had an assessment in the last year)
• adults out of work or at risk of financial exclusion or young people at risk of worklessness
• families affected by domestic violence and abuse
• parents or children with a range of health problems.

 

              

Update from Services for Young People

Our Access Points are fully open for in-person and virtual booked appointments where young people can receive support on a range of needs including Careers Guidance, Sexual Health Services and support in accessing our projects. 

Some services and projects are highlighted below, and full details of all our projects can be found by visiting our website. 

Looking ahead and planning for the future

In addition to our usual Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance, delivered in schools and through our Access Points, we are providing more intensive support for young people who are currently not in education, employment or training (NEET).  Our Pathways to Success programme delivers individual tailored support alongside a range of interactive workshops, which equips young people with the skills to develop their CVs and hone their interview skills. In doing so, the programme supports young people with identifying their future options, raising their aspirations and enhancing their employability.  Contact us if you know of a young person who would benefit from this extra support.

Supporting young people’s mental health and emotional wellbeing

Young people who are experiencing low mood may benefit from our Emotional Wellbeing Project which focuses on the Five Ways to Wellbeing, a framework for young people to explore how simple lifestyle changes can improve their emotional wellbeing. Similarly, the Supporting You Project supports young people who are struggling with feelings of worry or anxiety. Delivered within a supportive group work setting, young people learn how to apply a range of CBT techniques to their everyday lives, increasing confidence, self-esteem and developing their resilience to support their long-term wellbeing.

Supporting young people with mild to moderate learning difficulties

Our projects for young people with mild to moderate learning disabilities enable young people to access a safe space, participate in activities, workshops and interact with others, developing their communication, teamwork and interpersonal skills, as well as having a focus on developing skills to support independent living.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE)

DofE is a real adventure from beginning to end. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are from, you just need to be ready to jump into the best time of your life!  SfYP support schools across Hertfordshire in delivering the Award but we are increasingly aware that not all young people can access the award through their schools as places can be limited and for some school’s they are not in the position to offer this opportunity. Therefore, from September young people are welcome to access the Award at one of our Young People’s Centres and we would be happy to hear from you if you know of a young person who would value this opportunity. 

How to refer a young person to Services for Young People

If you wish to refer a young person to a project or programme please click here.  Your online referral will go to our referral Hub at County Hall and be allocated through the appropriate team manager to the SfYP project/service best placed to meet your needs.   

 

Do you deliver a service to help disadvantaged families in Hertfordshire?

If so, we’d like to hear from you. Please spare 5-10 minutes to complete this short survey to help us understand more about the services that you provide.

The information you provide will be key in shaping our Building Life Chances programme, a joint initiative between Children’s Services, Adult Care Services and Public Health to support families in or at risk of disadvantage.

Please complete this survey by Friday 19th November 2021

The Henry Programme - A great start for babies and young children

The Henry Programme provides a service for families with children aged 0-5 to help ensure babies and young children have a healthy start in life. The programme can help everyone with a baby or young child. 

View their leaflet here form more information and programme details.

They are currently are running 8 week FREE programmes in Watford, Hemel and Borehamwood fand also an online programme for families who cannot travel.

Please view the HENRY’s new programme schedule for September 2021 who will be returning to face to face programmes while keeping an online programme option too.

Free Computer Essentials course for Hertfordshire Families

Community Action Dacorum would like to share a course that might suit some of the families you support. It is a basic computing course, and we have partnered with the South Hill Centre to arrange a place learners can go to do the course if they do not have their own equipment, or if they would simply prefer going to a venue opposed to being at home and accessing online. It’s hopefully the first of many we will do in this way.

The course is free for anyone living in Hertfordshire.  Referrals can be sent to learning@communityactiondacorum.org.uk  or they can register directly by competing the enrolment form https://forms.gle/cYqPFPoa86JJk8as7

We will also be running IT assessments on a regular basis at the SHC, hopefully 2 a month. More information below:-

Youth Suicide Prevention Training for Parents, Carers and Family Members

For professionals to promote to families:-

On Friday 15^th October at 10am - 12, Herts Mind Network will be delivering their first Spot the Signs – Youth Suicide Prevention Training for Parents, Carers and Family Members. The aim of this training is to help parents, carers and family members to recognise when their young people are experiencing suicidal thoughts and provide next steps support, along with practical advice, information and signposting.

If you are a parent, carer or family member over 18 and living or working in Hertfordshire, please visit the following links for more information and to sign-up for your FREE space:

BOOK HERE

*Please note that this training session is not able to provide support those who have a child that continues to attempt suicide, or who have previously been bereaved by suicide.

If your child has recently made a suicide attempt but a mental health specialist hasn’t assessed them, they need to be urgently assessed. You can ask for an urgent on-the-day appointment with your GP, or call your local NHS helpline or 111 for urgent advice.

If you’ve lost a child to suicide, please visit SOBS (Survivors of Bereavement By Suicide) for further support: www.uksobs.org

If you are worried that your child is at risk of making a suicide attempt or seriously hurting themselves, or it doesn’t feel like they’re safe, don’t wait to attend this training. Call 999 for an ambulance or take them to Accident & Emergency (A&E).

 

For further information about the training, please contact Jess Whittaker – jessica.whittaker@hertsmindnetwork.org

 

HAPpy Programme - planning for Christmas

This Christmas, Hertfordshire County Council, Herts Sports Partnership and Hertfordshire Community Foundation will once again join forces to deliver healthy food alongside physical and enrichment activities, under the name ‘HAPpy: Hertfordshire’s Holiday Activity Programme’.

The Christmas delivery period will fall over three weeks:

• Week 1: 22nd, 23rd, 24th December
• Week 2: 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st December
• Week 3: 3rd and 4th January

'HAPpy' aims to tackle the triple inequalities of holiday hunger, physical inactivity and social isolation. So far, thousands of children and young people aged 5 to 16, who are in receipt of benefits-related free school meals have benefited from the Easter and summer programmes. With applications for Christmas now open, we are pleased to invite you to find out more about the Christmas HAPpy programme

The income squeeze and the rise in food poverty

 

Citizens Advice EH have published their latest research findings on food poverty. A household can be said to experience food insecurity or food poverty when unable to access ‘an adequate quality or sufficient quantity of food in socially acceptable ways’. Food poverty in the UK was prominent before Covid began, with 700,000 households using a food bank in 2019/20 (Trussell Trust) but the pandemic has caused these numbers to increase dramatically. In the first 6 months of the pandemic, the Food Foundation reported that 4.7 million adults and 2.3 million children lived in a household which could not access a sufficient quantity of food. With around 8.4 million people in the UK facing food poverty, the rate is one of the worst in Europe. While support is available, for example from food banks and free school meals, food poverty remains an extremely prominent issue which reduces quality of life and increases risk of illness and health issues. This winter will see a major income squeeze which will be focused on low-to-middle income households. High inflation, especially higher energy bills, will strain many families’ finances. We can expect to see an increase in demand for support from charities such as Citizens Advice and foodbanks. It is more important than ever that people know where to turn for help. To find out more about our research in this area and how we and other frontline services are supporting, please join us for a webinar on 12th October at 12.30-1.30pm. You can sign up via the link below.

Webinar - 12th October, 12.30-1.30pm

Get answers to your SEND related questions

Do you need to get answers to questions relating to SEND to better support children and young people in your work?  The Early Help SEND Navigation Tool may be able to help you.

Some of you may already know that last year we designed a tool to help early help practitioners get answers quickly to SEND related questions they may encounter while working with CYP with SEND and their families. 

The tool mainly navigates to the Local Offer and health websites and is therefore a useful way for practitioners to become familiar with content on these sites, which have been designed for parents/ carers, so how professionals navigate them may be different.  

Many early help practitioners have told us they find the tool useful and is strengthening the SEND support within universal services and targeted services.  It was been co-produced with professionals from a range of services across health, education and social care, together with parent /carer representatives from HPCI.

The tool is an interactive pdf with hyperlinks.  We’ve recently checked for broken links and some new ones taking you to brand new pages on the Local Offer e.g. Contacting a SEND service, New to SEND, Early Years SEND and Preparing for Adulthood. 

So, we’re taking this chance to remind you of this tool and hope it continues to be useful to you.

The tool can be found in two places: the Families First Portal and the SEND iLearn (elearning) platform.  We encourage you to save the link rather than the pdf so when we update the links you always have the most up to date version.

Let us know what you think about it or if there is anything else you need to help you support CYP with SEND: sue.chapman@hertfordshire.gov.uk

Please note the tool should NOT to be shared with families. Instead, professionals should be helping families become familiar with navigating the Local Offer. 

Make sure you keep up to date and share stories with us about SEND information and support in Hertfordshire via Local Offer Facebook, @sendherts Twitter and fortnightly newsletter SEND News