Targeted support directory for professionals

If you are a professional worker and you support children or young people in Plymouth, then you may find the following targeted support links and resources useful.

Adolescent Support Team (AST)

The AST provides a timely and intensive targeted intervention that is coordinated and focused on the young person and family, reducing risks and improving relationships to support the child/young person remaining at home or being reunified with their family.

AST is relationship-based, and interventions are agreed with the family. The family has one lead professional who will be supported by other members of the team to deliver interventions.

AST provides priority allocation to reunification planning and will support the social worker to undertake the necessary assessment and interventions to assist with decision making.

Support available includes:

Child Exploitation specialist support
Harmful Sexual Behaviour (HSB) interventions: staff are trained in AIM 3 Assessments and interventions and will work alongside NSPCC colleagues
Independent living skills
Keep Safe work (including drug and alcohol)
Parenting support
Prevention of offending work, using YJS based tools, for example Stop/Think, Knife-based crime awareness, thinking skills, developing specific contextual safeguarding interventions in conjunction with the Child Centred Policing team.
Domestic abuse/ healthy relationship focused interventions
We will support young people by engaging in education, training and wider positive community resources

Address

Frederick Street Centre, Frederick Street West, Plymouth, PL1 5JW

TargetedSupport@plymouth.gov.uk

Early Help, Advice and Support Team (EHAST)

The EHAST provides advice, guidance and practical support to families and partner agencies with a particular focus on Early Help Assessments (EHATs) and whole family early help provision below a statutory threshold.

Support available includes:

Advice and support to families and the partnership regarding initiating and undertaking Early Help Assessments (EHATs) taking a whole-family approach to assessments and planning interventions to sustain change.
Short-term work to engage families and negotiate support within the partnership.
Team around the school; practitioners are working with individual schools to identify themes and develop programmes of work to support specific needs
Youth Groups

Address

Frederick Street Centre, Frederick Street West, Plymouth, PL1 5JW

EHAST@plymouth.gov.uk

Family and Community Solutions

The Family and Community Solutions Team provides:

Family Group Conferences (FGC)
Mediation

A Family Group Conference (FGC) is a tool for planning and works well as an early intervention. It can also be used in Child in Need, Child Protection, and when considering alternative carers for a child. The conference is a decision making meeting in which the child and the child's wider family network make a plan about the future arrangements for the child, ensuring that the child is safe and his/her well-being is promoted.

We are also able to offer mediation between parents, carers, and young people, as well as between parents and other family members, promoting the best outcome for their children. Mediation can help young people and their families to work through the difficult issues that they are experiencing, understand the issues causing the breakdown in their relationship or the dispute, and then try to find solutions together. Mediation aims to clear up misunderstandings from the past and resolve communication difficulties from the present, promoting healthier relationships.

Address

Phone

Website

Frederick Street Centre, Frederick Street West, Plymouth, PL1 5JW

01752 306861

FamilyGroupConferenceTeam@plymouth.gov.uk

plymouthonlinedirectory.com

Family Intervention Project

The Family Intervention Project (FIP) provides an intensive family support team who work with families for around 12 months. To receive a service from us, there must be evidence of chaotic behaviour and/or dysfunctional parenting which is having a significant and adverse impact on family life due to:

Poor health; physical or mental - unmet health needs, poor diet,
Housing that includes poor conditions, overcrowding, tenancy concerns
Education concerns - non-school attenders, low attendance, poor relationships with schools
Domestic Abuse, Adolescent to Parental Violence
Finances that include debt, poor money management
Anti-social behaviour and Offending

Please note that all referrals will be reviewed at the Targeted Support Panel whereby a decision will be made as to which Targeted Support Team/other organisation would be most appropriate to offer support.

Any referrals received whereby recommendations for FIP intervention have been made without prior agreement with FIP managers will be subject to discussion at the panel and, as above, a decision will be made on the appropriateness of a FIP intervention.

Expectation of Social Worker if FIP accepts a referral:

Initial visit to the family with the practice manager so to discuss FIP intervention, the methods and expectations, and understand what support the family need
FIP 8 week reviews will need to be incorporated within CIN/ Core Group meetings
Regular liaison between FIP key workers so risks can be managed in a timely manner

Address

Midland House, Notte Street, Plymouth, PL1 2EJ

TargetedSupport@plymouth.gov.uk

Intervention Team

The Intervention Teams' work with young people and families comprises of direct work and assessment-based interventions. As a team, our work will contribute to the social work assessments and their overall decision-making; our work is not completed in isolation.

Family Management Skills Assessment (FMSA)

This is an evidence-based assessment tool
Family Support Workers will contribute to complex prenatal assessments

Direct work

Work will take place within the family home, in schools, youth centres and within the community. Keep safe work in terms of sexual abuse, PANTS, risk taking behaviour, domestic abuse, online safety etc., will involve sessions with both the child and parent to ensure messages have been shared, understood and retained.

Work around healthy relationships and domestic abuse focusing on the impact of the child and safety planning is carried out as a short-term piece of work.

Parenting work is undertaken using the principals of Take 3 and the Incredible Years parenting program

Youth work

Youth work intervention is very much person-centred and will endeavour to improve outcomes for young people using a strength based and solution-focused approach.

Crisis support