Young People in Focus

IYPP PROJECT

4. Project Development

4.1 Barriers

The Kinara Centre has a history of providing groups for young people and parents. However, these were distinct and not integrated. Feedback from parents and professionals highlighted the need to involve young people in parenting provision or parents in provision for young people.

Therefore we were particularly interested in the Family Skills Training (‘Strengthening Families’) as it appeared to fit with our reflections on how best to integrate provision for parenting and young people in a holistic way. Our priorities to prevent youth crime and to minimise risk and harm by strengthening family relationships also appeared to be evidenced by the body of research in the USA in relation to this model. We also wanted to test and develop our existing provision and required additional resources to do this. We then submitted a bid to be included in the IYPP Project, were successful... then we actually had to do it!

4.1.1 Planning and preparation and early challenges

After negotiating contracts and goals, and initial research it became apparent that in order to effectively implement the model we needed to be trained by the model developers. This required a visit to San Francisco and the Napa Valley, where the next training on the model was scheduled to be held in the local Sheriff’s Office. We learnt the model content and context, the resource implications and gained from the first hand experiences of those who had already implemented the model in their communities. We also enjoyed sharing our learning and the enthusiasm of our American counterparts, particularly when the model was translated into Spanish. This highlighted the adaptability but also specificity of the model, particularly the video’s, which we felt highlighted cultural issues such as language.While getting over the jet lag we planned our first group in order to meet the tight deadlines...and our realisation that providing services to 24 families (as per the IYPP project agreement) was a lot using this model.

In the development phase of the IYPP Project there were a number of issues that we needed to consider carefully:

• Referrals – How to promote the project and ensure suitable referrals
• Who facilitates? –In order to facilitate this model, we needed extra staff. Due to the short time scale of the IYPP Project, we felt that we did not have the time to recruit new staff and have them go through an induction period. To resolve this issue, part time staff increased their hours. This gave us more flexibility with existing staff
• Logistics – This seemed to be a challenging aspect of this model, as venues were required with more than one room large enough to run two separate groups, one of which needed to be large enough for everyone. We looked around the local community for suitable venues. Another solution was that we got a portacabin for the centre, increasing our capacity. Other resources, such as transport, childcare and food were provided in line with Kinara’s existing policies
• Engaging with both parent and young person – We felt that we would need to think carefully about this, as we had been successful in the past in engaging parents and young people separately, but not together. This issue is dealt with in more detail in the next section
• Staff supervision – We felt that the staff implementing this model would need more support. In addition to the usual supervision procedures at Kinara, members of the management team, who had undergone the training, offered consultation sessions at the beginning, middle and end of each group process. We had built this into the budget in our funding application
• Focus on content rather than process– The FST model is highly structured andtightly timed, using videos and having little emphasis on the group process. This was seen as a possible problematic issue for some staff, as previous parenting groups had focussed more on the group process, rather than the content. Several strategies were employed to address this, such as familiarisation with the course content, discussions in supervision, consultation sessions and extra sessions for parents at the beginning of each group programme to allow some of the processes to occur

As well as these barriers identified at the early stages other barriers emerged as we delivered the service.

4.1.2 Engaging both parent and young person together

We were already successfully engaging both parents and young people on our existing group work programmes. The engagement of both together for the same group is a vital component to the success of the programme.  We also needed to address how we maintained engagement throughout the length of the programme.

4.1.3 Diversity

Staff needed to ensure that the balance of group members worked, i.e. that there wasn’t an obvious group member that may feel isolated, e.g.

• one girl/rest boys
• one 10 year old/rest 13 and 14 year olds
• one black parent/no other staff or parents who were black

4.1.4 The high level of resources required

The programme is costly in terms of staffing, provision for refreshments, childcare expenses, transport etc… for anyone wanting to implement this model, this would be an issue to consider.

4.2 Overcoming the Barriers

4.2.1 Engagement

• Effective pre-engagement work. Two workers visiting family at home and meeting young person and parent separately to discuss fears and anxieties
• Involving families that we had previously worked with in engagement sessions. Many had positive experiences of the staff, centre and group-work
• Having a two-week introductory session with parents prior to starting programme to enable parents to ‘tell their story’

4.2.3 Diversity

• We attempted to ensure that the facilitating staff were diverse and reflected the service users. Having a male worker was identified as a major strength when workingwith young males who very often did not have a positive male role model.
• During the home visit staff needed to assess reading and literacy abilities of parents and young people to ensure the programme could meet their needs or whether adaptations were needed.

4.2.4 The high level of resources required

• The costs for this were built into the IYPP Project’s budget, but for anyone wishing to implement this model, the issue needs to be taken into consideration

4.3 Some Lessons Learned from Implementing the Model

Using the FST model required Kinara staff to work in a very different way. Our experience showed that there were some aspects of the US model that staff found challenging to use with UK families as well as some very positive aspects. These are summarised in the following tables in relation to the programme and to the videos that accompany it.

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