Family Help

What is Family Help?

Wiltshire’s multi-agency Family Help arrangements enable children, young people and families to access the right help at the right time through a co-ordinated approach to prevention and early intervention through:

a co-ordinated approach at a whole population/universal level to prevent needs from arising and to build resilience across all residents

a robust multi-agency approach to identifying any additional needs at the earliest point and providing effective joined-up support that prevents the needs from escalating further

We use the term ‘Family Help’ to stress that the focus is on working with families and to avoid historical confusion associated with the term ‘Early Help’

Wiltshire families matter to us; we want them to enjoy life, to feel safe and strong and to lead happy and healthy lives. As a partnership, our approach is informed by what families tell us about how, when and where they want to be able to access help and how we can best use our collective resources to help build healthy, resilient individuals and communities.

Claire Stephens, FACT Family Help Pilot Coordinator, explains the definition of family help and how early intervention can benefit children and families. Click here to listen to the podcast.

You can read the Family Help Strategy here

Family Help Practice Framework

There are core principles that underpin the framework. These are based on; understanding and recognising trauma driven behaviour, recognising that human connection is critical to wellbeing throughout life and that our early experiences affect our ability to manage the stresses of life through childhood and into adulthood, looking beyond behaviours and focus on learning, strengths and the value of positive relationships and how we look to get to the root causes of the behaviours and work with compassion to help others move forward positively.

To help understanding of the principles of Five to Thrive: Attachment, Trauma and Resilience the following animations have been produced by Knowledge Change Action (KCA). Further information can be found on the KCA website here

Primary aged child animation https://vimeo.com/kcatraining/primary-kca?share=copy
Secondary aged child animation https://vimeo.com/kcatraining/secondary-kca?share=copy
Toddler Animation https://vimeo.com/kcatraining/toddler-kca?share=copy
Young Adult https://vimeo.com/kcatraining/youngadult-kca?share=copy
Baby Animation https://vimeo.com/kcatraining/baby-kca?share=copy

Five To Thrive Training

KCA have been commissioned to deliver Five To Thrive, Trauma Informed Practice and Emotion Coaching training. Further information, training dates and booking links can be found here.

Making Every Contact Count (MECC)

MECC training is in two parts. The eLearning can be accessed for free at Making Every Contact Count - elearning for healthcare (e-lfh.org.uk) - please follow the instructions to register and access a certificate for your CPD record.

The group training session is delivered by Public Health in partnership across Wiltshire, Swindon & BaNES. Each area delivers the course once a month.

Launch of Family Hubs

On 2nd April 2024, Family Hubs launched across the county. You can view a recording of the launch webinar for professionals here. You can read the FAQs here.