Welcome to the latest edition of the Early Help newsletter.
In this edition you will important information about the updated child exploitation risk assessment and directory, a timetable of workshops from Beam for parents and professionals covering Supporting Children and Young People with Anxiety, Wellbeing Planning and Sleep Support, and lots of free and valuable training from Early Help.
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 or if you know of a colleague who would also like to receive this newsletter they can also email to be added to the distribution list.
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Whether you think a parent 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. |
The Shropshire Child Exploitation Risk Assessment tool has now been updated, with some improvements. The new tool can be viewed and downloaded here, along with information on how to report intelligence.
Please note that the old format can no longer be accepted with immediate effect.
If you are reviewing a previous CE risk assessment, please put the information into the new format.
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This directory has been produced to outline the support available to children and young people in Shropshire who are victims of, or at risk of, child exploitation, as well as their families and professionals who support them. Child exploitation is a complex issue, in which there are sometimes other push factors in the young person’s life, so information about other services has also been provided.
A newly launched support service for professionals working with children and young people in tackling harmful sexual behaviours, funded by the Home Office and in collaboration with the Department for Education, provided by SWGfL and The Marie Collins Foundation. This has been commissioned following the ‘Everyone’s Invited’ campaign which saw young people come forward and report their experiences with sexual harassment.
The support service is available for anyone in England working with children and young people, particularly, designated safeguarding leads within primary and secondary schools and alternative provision. Support is also available to early years provision, colleges and wider safeguarding professionals (including police, social workers and health care professionals). If children have been displaying or are affected by specific incidents of Harmful Sexual Behaviour, the support service can provide initial support and signpost to further resources and advice.
It is open from 8:00am to 8:00pm Monday to Friday. Those who need advice can either email on hsbsupport@swgfl.org.uk or phone 0344 2250623.
They offer
- Advice on individual cases or incidents of harmful sexual behaviour
- Guidance on policy development on tackling harmful sexual behaviour
- Access to relevant resources, best practice and contacts around harmful sexual behaviour
The web address is https://swgfl.org.uk/harmful-sexual-behaviour-helpline/
Beam have organised three informative and engaging workshops for parents and professionals. These workshops will be held via MS Teams. The workshops will cover:-
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Supporting Children and Young People with Anxiety – aims and objectives are to pass over psycho - education within the topic followed by practical suggestions of methods and techniques to help support the youth experience issues with anxiety.
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Wellbeing Planning – a workshop which explains and provides a tool for Children and Young people to support their general Emotional Health and Wellbeing, it recognises triggers and promotes self-awareness, this can also be used as a relapse tool to support resilience.
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Sleep Support - aims to pass over psycho - education within the topic followed by practical suggestions and advise of methods and techniques to help support the children and young people having difficulties with getting to sleep and staying a sleep.
Monday 31st Jan 10-11am - Wellbeing Planning
Click here to join the meeting
Monday 21st Feb 10-11am - Supporting Children & Young People with Anxiety
Click here to join the meeting
Wednesday 2nd March 4pm - Wellbeing Planning
Click here to join the meeting
Wednesday 9th March 4pm - Supporting Children & Young People with Anxiety
Click here to join the meeting
Thursday 17th March 4pm - Sleep Support
Click here to join the meeting
Monday 21st March 10-11am - Wellbeing Planning
Click here to join the meeting
Monday 28th March 10-11am - Supporting Children & Young People with Anxiety
Click here to join the meeting
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The Branch Project runs throughout Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire, and works with children and young people aged 5-18 and up to 24 years for young adults with additional learning needs, who have experienced Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) or are worried about it either online or offline. The Branch Project have a Branch Plus worker who can support adults from age 18 onwards.
For more information or to make a referrals please visit The Branch Project website.
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Early Help training is for everyone who works with children, young people and their families and is available virtually via Microsoft Teams or face to face in venues in Shrewsbury. The training is aimed at professionals or volunteers from all agencies who work with children, young people or their families in Shropshire and is free of charge.
Sessions currently available include:
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Introduction to Early Help - Are you new to Early Help in Shropshire? Are you confused by the language? Don’t know who to talk to? Whether you are in a school, an early years setting, health, housing, social care or the voluntary sector, if your work involves children and their families, this 2-hour module will support you to see the benefits of partnership working and early help.
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Introduction to Liquidlogic Early Help Module (EHM) - The Early Help Module (EHM) of Liquidlogic is the multi-agency case recording system for early help, targeted early help and the Strengthening Families outcomes. EHM will allow agencies to share information about families confidently, thus avoiding duplication and ensuring families get the right service at the right time.
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Introduction to Reducing Parental Conflict - If you are working with families, you are likely to interact with parents who display conflict in their relationship, whether they are together or separated. This can be challenging – to help you with managing your response, this 2-hour interactive virtual session, delivered via Microsoft Teams, aims to support practitioners to build awareness and develop the confidence, knowledge and skills to work with parents to reduce conflict and improve outcomes for children.
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REDUCING PARENTAL CONFLICT – building confidence and using resources - It can be difficult to identify parental conflict as often the focus is on a child’s behaviour and the quality of parent-child relationships. However, research shows that parental conflict has a significant impact on children’s outcomes, regardless of their age or whether their parents are together or separated. This new one-day face to face course, aimed at practitioners who work directly with families, has been designed to help practitioners develop the skills and feel confident to use a range of tools and resources to support their interaction with parents and children. During this face to face training, all delegates will have access to range of tools to use on the day to discuss with colleagues and take away to use in their own setting.
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LEGO: Think Bricks - This session will offer a therapeutic coaching approach, designed to support children’s emotional well-being ....brick by brick! With full follow up support, an activities resource, and a LEGO Think Bricks resource kit for each delegate. This new one-day face to face course, aimed at practitioners who work directly with children, young people and families.
Further dates and new courses are being added to the training schedule, which can be found on this webpage. This also includes information on how to book onto the training. Shropshire Council’s Leap into Learning management system is used for the booking of all Early Help multi-agency training.
For training queries please email ShropshireStrengtheningFamilies@shropshire.gov.uk with your query and someone will be in touch.
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Shropshire Council’s Early Help Parenting Team is delivering several two-day Solihull Approach Foundation Training courses in 2022.
The Solihull Approach is a highly practical way of working with families within a robust
theoretical structure. It explores the quality of the parent-child relationship and how this is crucial to the way the brain wires itself, impacting upon the child’s ability to regulate their own emotions and behaviours. It has a major contribution to make to the ways in which practitioners can work with families to ensure that children have a good emotional start and support throughout childhood.
This training is for any practitioner who works with families, infants, children and young people.
Training dates:-
Tuesday 8th and Thursday 17th March
Tuesday 7th and Wednesday 15th June
Tuesday 20th and Wednesday 28th September
Wednesday 16th and Thursday 24th November
To book a place or for further information please contact the Parenting Team on parenting.team@shropshire.gov.uk or 01743 250950
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The Children’s Commissioner has launched a guide for parents and carers on online sexual harassment and how they can support children to stay safe online.
‘The things I wish my parents has known’ draws together advice form 16 to 21 year olds on how parents should manage tricky conversations around sexual harassment and access to inappropriate content, including pornography. An overriding message from young people is that parents should start these challenging conversations early. They suggest that broaching topics before a child is given a phone or a social media account, which is often around the age of 9 to 10.
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Following a reorganisation of the team at the start of January, Emma Hegenbarth is now the Autism Service Lead for the Shropshire Family Service allowing Gemma Evans to focus on the Outreach service in Shropshire. Gemma will still be involved in events and activities on an occasional basis. The team continues to work remotely however our new office in Telford is almost ready for us to use – this will be the base that the Shropshire team will eventually be working out of. No change to what we do for Shropshire families/professionals, just where our desks and the printer will live!
FREE Webinars
For parents, carers and professionals throughout the region, watch “live” or via an automated link to watch a replay. Click on the links to find out more including registration details –
Understanding Autism – Friday 18th February 9.30am-10.30am
https://autismwestmidlands.org.uk/events/understanding-autism-webinar-west-midlands-18feb22/
Autism and Anxiety – Friday 4th March 9.30am – 10.30am
Bookings open soon – please check the “events” section of our website
How Autistic People Process Information – Friday 18th March 9.30am-10.30am
https://autismwestmidlands.org.uk/events/how-autistic-people-process-information-webinar-18mar22/
HALF TERM FAMILY EVENT
Attingham Park - Tuesday 22nd February 10am – 12pm
Join us and other families for a chat and stroll around the gardens and parkland, more information and booking details below
https://autismwestmidlands.org.uk/events/attingham-park-walk-for-shropshire-families/
WEEKLY Zoom Advice slots – every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
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://autismwestmidlands.org.uk/events/online-autism-advice-shropshire/
Virtual Support Group for Parents - Wednesday Mornings 10am-11am & Wednesday Evenings 8pm-9pm – NOW 1st and 3rd Weds of each month
From the New Year we moved our online support groups to twice a month via the Zoom platform. This is an opportunity to talk with other parents, share ideas, and offer support.
If you are working with a parent/carer who would like to join either of the support groups, please ask them to email the team here shropshire@autismwestmidlands.org.uk
Advice and support
We continue to offer advice and support over the phone and via email. Parents/carers and professionals can contact our small team directly to arrange an appointment please call:
Mon, Wed, Fri - Wendy Cowton 07900784186
Weds, Thu, Fri - Emma Hegenbarth 07881109480
Tue, Wed, Thu - Dawn Lewis 07706309382
Email shropshire@autismwestmidlands.org.uk
Helpline 0121 450 7575
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The Shropshire Plan will outline Shropshire Council’s vision and high-level priorities over the next three years. These priorities will then in turn inform their work and how they deploy resources to achieve them.
The proposed priorities in the Shropshire Plan are structured around three key themes, all being underpinned by them being a healthy organisation.
- Healthy people
- Healthy economy
- Healthy environment
Prior to the Shropshire Plan being finalised, it is essential that everyone has the opportunity to feedback opinions, concerns and ideas. Please do take a look at the draft Shropshire plan and share your thoughts via the on-line survey, which is open until Wednesday 9 February 2022.
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