TSA: IYPP - East Berkshire YOTs – Individual Parallel Work: Summary of Achievements

East Berkshire YOTs – Individual Parallel Work

By the end of the IYPP project 15 families had completed the programme and participated in the research element of the project (all relevant forms returned). A further 10 families had participated in the programme but not fully in the research element of the project (all forms not returned) but in the view of the project workers they did seem to have benefited considerably from the input.
The majority of the project referrals came from the Social Services and Education departments. There were 8 boys and 7 girls. There were 5 families where both parents /guardians took part. In the remaining families only the mother participated.

In the opinion of East Berkshire YOTs IYPP project staff the families that gained the most from this programme were those where the parents had already reached the point where they were able to reflect on their own behaviours and how these impacted (either negatively or positively) on their children. They were also at a point where they were willing to make changes in their own behaviour as well as having the expectation of change in their children’s behaviour. It was possible to start this programme with families that had not reached this point, but in the opinion of the project staff there was less positive change by the end of the programme.
Again in the opinion of project staff, young people taking part in the programme engaged and worked more effectively if they still had a clear memory of ‘a better past’ when family life, until a certain time or particular event, had been good. This meant the young person had a longing to get that back and therefore invested in making changes to return to a positive family life.