Welcome to the latest edition of the Early Help newsletter in this edition you will find an update from the Head of Early Help, Partnerships and Commissioning, there is also a link to a Early Help Module (EHM) guidance document for partners, and we are asking for your feedback on the exploitation pathway and toolkits.
There’s also information on free Psychological First Aid training for supporting children and young people affected by emergencies and crisis situations including the COVID-19 pandemic, which has just been launched.
If you have information on your service area you would like to share in the next early help newsletter, please email Kate.Bentham@shropshire.gov.uk
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Whether you think a child, young person or family needs some support, or you are worried a child might be at risk of abuse or neglect, there is only one number you need – 0345 678 9021. From this number you will receive the support you need to get the right help at the right time to strengthen families and safeguard children.
We have been working towards the implemented a new case management system for Early Help work in Shropshire. This is called the Early Help Module (EHM) of LiquidLogic and replaces ECINS.
Early last year, our Targeted Early Help workers migrated their cases from ECINS onto the EHM and have been using the system for some time now. This enabled us to pick up on any issues and glitches that you always get with any new system and to fix these before rolling the system out to our partners.
It is now time for our Early Help partners to also use the new system – to ensure information can be shared with consent to support the whole family.
From January 2021 partners will not be able complete a request for intervention for the targeted early help support without using the EHM.
We have had very many requests from partners wanting to join because they understand the benefits and schools in particular are already using the system to benefit early help support to families. Please ensure you play your part in sharing information for the benefit of effectively supporting families and join EHM today, we will support you. There is an online training programme called MeLearning, which is excellent, simple to navigate and easy to access, and is available to support you in using the EHM.
To access the Me Learning please contact the Strengthening Families Team on 01743 253921 or email ShropshireStrengtheningFamilies@shropshire.gov.uk
Shropshire Councils detached youth support team will be up and running and ready to go from April 2021. They will be out there on the streets supporting Shropshire’s vulnerable young people where ever they are, with many of the local Town and Parish Councils taking responsibility for commissioning universal youth provision for their local communities. Helena Williams – is the newly appointed team manager and Helena will be updating Early Help partners of plans in the next Early Help newsletter.
And finally, the Early Strategy is currently being updated and we are hoping to have this work completed by April 2021 ready for a new financial year
Keep up the great work – you are all doing such an amazing job in the most challenging of circumstances
Regards Fran
Fran Doyle
Head of Early Help, Partnerships and Commissioning
There are now 150 partners registered to use the Early Help Module (EHM) on Liquid Logic. Thanks to all of those who have worked so hard to help migrate information from ECINs to EHM and who have started using the system.
To continue to support you in using the EHM the first sections of the Partner Guidance are now available on the Early Help website.
This is a comprehensive document with lots of useful screen shots to help you navigate the EHM system. The contents page is clickable and will take you directly to the topic you might need support with.
Further help and support is available through the Strengthening Families Team on 01743 253921 or ShropshireStrenghteningFamilies@Shropshire.gov.uk
Public Health England (PHE) has launched a new psychological first aid (PFA) online training course to help support children and young people that have been affected by emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic. It is available for all frontline workers such as teachers, health and social workers, charity and community volunteers and anyone who cares for or is regularly in contact with children and young people aged up to 25, including parents and caregivers.
Those completing the training will be equipped to better identify those children that are in distress and provide support to help them feel safe, connected and able to take steps to help themselves during the pandemic or other crisis situations.
The course is free, takes up to three hours to complete (that the learner can complete at their own pace) and no previous qualifications are required. PFA is a globally recognised training programme for emergency situations and PHE has developed this new course with input and advice from a range of experts, government and charitable organisations via an advisory group which includes NHS England, the Department for Education, British Red Cross and in partnership with FutureLearn.
There is a new free app to support couples with the reduction of parental conflict. ‘Between Us’ is an app designed to help people have a better relationship with their partner. It has been created by Tavistock Relationships, an organisation based in London, UK, which has been helping couples for more than 70 years.
The app provides individuals and couples with a range of exercises, tips, videos and information so that they can better understand what’s going wrong in their relationship and do something about it.
For more information please visit this website. This video gives a brief overview of the app and details of where to download it from, for both Apple and Android.
The Shropshire Safeguarding Community Partnership (SSCP) is reviewing the exploitation pathway and supporting tools. Practitioners are invited to share their thoughts on the tools and pathway and to have an input into how the tools could be developed to support you in your role.
The existing pathway and tools can be found here.
If you have any feedback on what works well, or what might need to be changed or amended then please email Jeanette.Hill@Shropshire.gov.uk before the 30th April 2021.
You can now refer a family for a Safe and Well visit by Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service directly on EHM when you have an open Early Help Episode.
The purpose of the Safe and Well visit is to ensure families are made aware of potential fire hazards in their home and give appropriate preventions advice. This link will take you to a leaflet that provides families with information about the visits. For information on how to make the referral for the Safe and Well visit on EHM, please go to section 15 in the EHM Partner Guidance.
Shropshire Council, the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and the Parent and Carer Council (PACC) have jointly come together to provide the latest Covid-19 SEND Newsletter. The newsletter aims to provide easy access to key information for SEND families during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as an opportunity for parent carers to hear from each other about their experiences.
Please do continue to provide feedback on this newsletter, we want this to work for you and we are keen to hear what you think of it. You can email us at local.offer@shropshire.gov.uk
Please like/follow the Shropshire SEND Local Offer on Facebook and Twitter for regular SEND updates, advice, guidance and resources.
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The Parenting Team has resumed their Understanding Your Child group delivery. They are being facilitated virtually through MSTeams. Delivered virtually, all that is needed is an email address and an electronic device.
Understanding your child with SEND group
- Wednesday 21st April 2021 for 8 weeks (excluding school holidays) Time 1.00pm to 2.00pm
- Thursday 1st July 2021 for 8 weeks (excluding school holidays) Time 10.00am to 11.00am
- Monday 13th September 2021 for 8 weeks (excluding school holidays) Time 1.00pm to 2.00pm
- Friday 26th November 2021 for 8 weeks (excluding school holidays) Time 10.00am to 11.00am
Understanding your child
- Thursday 22nd April 2021 for 8 weeks (excluding school holidays) Time 1.00pm to 2.00pm
- Friday 2nd July 2021 for 8 weeks (excluding school holidays) Time 10.00am to 11.00am
- Tuesday 14th September 2021 for 8 weeks (excluding school holidays) Time 1.00pm to 2.00pm
- Monday 22nd November 2021 for 8 weeks (excluding school holidays) Time 10.00am to 11.00am
More information can be found on the Family Information Service Directory
To book a place on one of the groups or for further information on the groups please contact the Parenting Team on telephone 01743 250950 or email Parenting.team@shropshire.gov.uk
The online courses are still available and are free to all residents of Shropshire. Now that Google Translate has been added to the webpage, all courses can be translated into more than 100 languages.
The courses available are
- Understanding pregnancy, labour, birth and your baby
- Understanding your baby
- Understanding your child with SEND
- Understanding your child
- Understanding your teenager’s brain
- Understanding my brain
- Understanding pregnancy, labour, birth and your baby: for female couples
To access a course visit the Our Place website and when prompted put in the access code DARWIN18
Baby banks provide essentials and equipment to parents who cannot afford them. Little Stars Baby Bank helps Shropshire parents in need give their children the best start in life. They do this through generous donations from the local community of pre-loved baby items.
A referral is needed to access Little Stars Baby Bank who offer different bundles for different needs. Parents can get a referral from their community midwife; health visitor; Compass; doctors (social prescribers); Family Nurse partnership; maternity ward; Care Leavers; Woman’s Aid; Shropshire Domestic Abuse; Shrewsbury Homes for All; Shrewsbury Ark and more.
To make a referral, or to find out more, visit the Little Stars Baby Bank website
Employment Advisors are available for family support. Please note that all contact will be by telephone and that capacity may be limited/temporary. They can support with the following: Benefit Enquiries including payment queries, Entitled to better off calculations, CV support, signposting to online training, Career discussion for future job goals, digital on line coaching including signposting to www.jobhelp.dwp.gov.uk (New dedicated website for Job help/advice in current climate)
Referrals can now be made through a stand alone form on the Early Help Module (EHM), details of how to do this can be found in the Partner Guidance on the Early Help website.
Contact ben.marr@shropshire.gov.uk (Central South) or Amanda.osborne@shropshire.gov.uk (North/Central)
In order for local agencies and service providers to identify young people with substance misuse and risk taking problems Shropshire We are With You has developed a screening tool. The tool will enable staff to carry out a brief assessment of needs paying particular focus to substance use, at risk groups and at-risk situations as identified by the practice standards. This tool has recently been updated so please use the latest version when making a referral.
The latest edition of the quarterly newsletter aimed at reducing and ending exploitation in Shropshire is now available. The TREES newsletter (Together Reducing and Ending Exploitation in Shropshire), provides updates on the latest information regarding exploitation in your local area – including useful links and resources. You can access the latest newsletter here.
The Government has highlighted that there is a need for change in the approach to dealing with Troubled Families and Early Help. Joining up local services so they can ‘talk’ to each other and communicate effectively drastically improves the service delivery to the individual whist helping to reduce duplication of effort provided by support officers.
The delivery model for Early Help services across Shropshire provides whole family support, dealing with all the issues a family face. Early Help is everyone’s business, but to ensure partners work together and are supported to manage caseloads effectively, effective infrastructure support is needed.
We are looking for someone who is willing to take a creative approach, is enthusiastic, previous experience of working with multi-agency partners and a good understanding of knowledge of whole family working.
The key purpose of the post is to support the development of Strengthening Families and Early Help through locality working in Central Shropshire, including supporting the implementation of a new case management system (Early Help Module on Liquid Logic), providing case management support for partners, developing and supporting network meetings and working in partnership with Family Hubs to ensure families receive the right service at the right time.
Closing date 28/2/2021
For further information including the job description and person specification, and details on how to apply please visit Shropshire Council’s jobs website
If someone is told by NHS Test and Trace Service to stay at home and self-isolate, they may be able to get a £500 Test and Trace Support Payment. For the qualifying conditions and to apply see here see here.
Sometimes, this may not be enough to address all of the problems and not everyone will qualify. Whether eligible for this or not, we urge people to think about applying for the other discretionary help as well.
For more vulnerable households either affected financially by Covid or just struggling to meet essential bills over lockdown and over winter, there are other Hardship Funds that can help with a wide range of need.
These grants are open to anyone in difficulty, it is not necessary for benefits to be in payment.
We want to get this money to Shropshire householders, especially our low-paid working families with children whose finances may have suffered due to the long effect of Covid and lockdowns and who are now struggling to make ends meet.
It is easy to apply over the phone (a paper form is available on request), an adviser will complete the paperwork over the phone and a specialist will look to see how we can help and if any further information is needed.
People can also access these grants and a range of other Covid related support through our web pages. or via our Covid helpline on 0345 678 9028.
Working with cases of child neglect in these difficult times is a challenge. The situation is exacerbated by the lack of research and practice experience regarding family behaviour during a period of lockdown. To fill this vacuum, Jan Horwath has drawn on research into child neglect and makes suggestions as to how neglectful parents and children may respond to lockdown. The paper can be accessed here.
Kooth has launched a new campaign called Don’t Do It Alone. They have created an uplifting and positive short film to remind teenagers that they are not alone when dealing with their mental health. There is always someone there to talk to. You can watch the video here.
There are also downloadable resources for this campaign here which you can share with any young people you are working with. As part of the Don't Do It Alone campaign the Kooth team have created some amazing content that young people can access by signing up to Kooth, including
Activities:
- Practice Asking for Help
- Send a Letter to Someone you Love
- Dance Like Nobody’s Watching
- Create a Positive Word Board
Articles:
- Express Yourself Hub Article – This piece links in with other articles about expressing yourself.
- Don’t Do It Alone – Featuring quotes from the celebrities, links to the video and information about reaching out and getting support.
If your service would like to book a Professionals Kooth training session and/or order Kooth resources (cards and posters) please complete the Booking/Order Form
Zoom Together – Fun Sessions for Shropshire Youngsters March 2021
Free online quiz, chat and activities through ‘Zoom’. Wednesday evenings 6pm – 7pm on 3rd March and 17th March 2021
Young people must be living in the Shropshire Council Area and be registered with the council’s All In Short Breaks programme to take part. To apply for All In visit the SEND Local Offer.
To book a place on the Zoom Together session please visit the Autism West Midlands eShop
For further information and please contact Wendy on email wendyc@autismwestmidlands.org.uk
FREE Webinar - How Autistic people process information
Looking at
- What neurodiversity is
- The Autistic brain
- How autistic people process information and what impact this might have
- Top tips for supporting autistic people
This webinar is open to any parent, carer or professional in the West Midlands.
Date: Thursday 25th February 2021
Time: 9:30am – 10:45am
For more information or to book please visit this page.
Virtual Support Group for Parents
Tuesday Morning 11am-12pm & Wednesday Evening 8pm-9pm
We are running our weekly online support groups via the Zoom platform. This is an opportunity to talk with other parents, share ideas, and offer support.
If you would like to join either of the support groups please email Gemma at gemmae@autismwestmidlands.org.uk
DAD’s Group – 25th February 7-8pm
We welcome Dad’s to come and join our online group. Come together to share ideas and advice with a member of AWM present. For more information on this group and to register please visit: https://www.autismwestmidlands.org.uk/events/
Zoom Advice slots
For those would like some face to face contact we are offering this virtually via video appointments. Zoom works well on mobile phones. To book a 45 min advice appointment with a specialist autism advisor please book via our shop https://shop.autismwestmidlands.org.uk/
Advice and support
We continue to offer advice and support over the phone and via email. Parents and carers can contact our small team directly to arrange an appointment please call:
Mon, Tue, Thurs, Fri Wendy Cowton 07900784186
Weds, Thu, Fri Emma Hegenbarth 07881109480
Email shropshire@autismwestmidlands.org.uk
Helpline 0121 450 7575
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