Centre for Fun and Families – Parallel Groups
IYPP PROJECT
5. Resources
The initial project proposal was to run 4 parallel groups to achieve the agreed target of delivering services to 24 families. Due to the early difficulties with retention and engagement of the whole family and the return of research questionnaires in the first few groups, additional groups needed to be run. Therefore the costs increased eg room hire, staff time, bringing in sessional staff to help run the groups, transport costs etc.
For the IYPP Project we employed two members of staff. In the beginning they ran groups with other members of staff at CFF. Once fully trained and experienced in the parents’ LWT and the young persons’ ACWA programmes, these two members of staff ran both groups. Although it is possible for two people to run this model, facilitating both groups, this does require that issues of confidentiality be addressed at the beginning of the intervention and reaffirmed throughout the group process. The advantage of this way of working was that the workers were able to see and work with the whole family holistically. However, in our view the optimum number of staff to facilitate the ACWA programme is three, with an additional two staff running the LWT group.
It is important to note that in the view of project staff the ACWA programme is best run in a young people friendly environment, such as a Youth Centre, to allow for young people to let off steam and build social relationships.