Family Compass; Time to Make Sense

Aim

Providing 3 Time to Make Sense groups to support early mental health needs and build resilience in children and families in North Devon.

What is the Project?

“Life is not about how fast you run, or how high you climb, but how well you bounce”

Time to Make Sense is a group which supports children to build emotional resilience, providing a space to develop emotional awareness and understanding, and learn new strategies to overcome future challenges. Using a strengths-based approach centred on play and discovery, it helps children to build positive relationships, gain confidence and self-belief and supports the management of their feelings.

Lucy Capron and Kedi Johnstone from Family Compass are seeking support to run three Time to Make Sense (pilot) Groups in North Devon. Having previously delivered similar groups and evidenced their success, we know how important it is to be able to demonstrate impact. By running three pilot groups, Family Compass would be able to provide an evidenced evaluation which would support the delivery of further groups.

Why is it important?

Caring for the emotional wellbeing of children is just as important as caring for their physical health. Good mental health supports children to be resilient- it enables them to cope with the challenges they may face from childhood through to adulthood.

Mental health charity Young Minds reports that 1 in every 10 children is affected by a mental health need at some point in their lives. Statistics show that 70 % of these children have not had access to appropriate support. Nationally 23% of referrals to CAMHS are not provided with support. Less than 1% of the NHS budget is spent on children’s mental health and only 16% of that is used to support early intervention.

Both Kedi and I have worked within family support across North Devon for many years and have a good understanding from listening to families and other professionals of the high need for support for families in the area. Within the current financial climate, many services and agencies are experiencing ongoing cuts to their budgets and this affects the services that are available for families, sometimes leaving very limited options. We believe that Time to Make Sense provides a unique model that provides essential early mental health support which can really make a difference for young people when facing future challenges.  The provision of three ‘free’ groups within the community which families can ‘self-refer’ too, will provide a positive option for essential support.  Achieving funding to support these groups would enable 18 families to access Time To Make Sense across North Devon, and in the longer term opens up support to countless more.

It would be brilliant if our amazing supporters could donate a small amount to this cause - a little goes a long way when we all work together!

Group content

It provides a unique wraparound group structure with a mixture of family, one to one and group sessions over a 10-week period.

Session 1 - Family session - a time to start building a relationship with the child and family

Session 2 - One to one session - for the child and group facilitator, supporting the child to feel prepared for the group

Session 3 - Brain Power - Discover the amazing power of your brain, how it works when it’s stressed and how it can play tricks on you. Learn deep breathing techniques to take back control when emotions take over.

Session 4 - Our Senses- Learn about your senses – there are many more than the five we think we know! Practical exercises give insight into taste, smell, appearance and sound and practice using varied language to describe experiences. Learn a strategy which uses touch to centre thoughts in a calming and grounding way.

Session 5 - Understanding Feelings - Focusing in on the strong feelings we all have, this session develops an awareness of how we experience these feelings, encouraging discussion and using practical exercises to build understanding. Learn the skill of deep muscle relaxation.

Session 6 - Building Emotional Language - Building on the previous week’s session, children begin to develop their vocabulary to describe their feelings. Planting a ‘mind garden’, we look at the link between thoughts and feelings. A positive affirmations script encourages children to consider their strengths.

Session 7 - Bouncing Back - Looking at resilience, children begin to examine areas of strength in their lives, from talents and interests to supportive networks. A guided imagery script is taken home to practice visualisation techniques.

Session 8 - Personal Strengths and Celebration - The final session pulls together strands from the whole group, developing a treasure box of personal strengths which can be used to encourage, motivate and calm. Food is shared as part of a celebration of everyone’s achievements.

Session 9 - One to one session - for the child and group facilitator to share experiences of the group.

Session 10 - A family session - to share and celebrate completing the group. Providing feedback and tools to embed changes made.

Theory

The focus of the group is to build emotional resilience. The theory of resilience is defined as a person’s ability to respond to stressful situations and adversity. Resilience is learnt through life experiences and the development of our stress management systems. It can be learnt or developed as a skill. The group uses a mixture of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Mindfulness activities to support children to become more aware of their feelings and develop strategies to control more difficult emotions.

Outcomes Results

Five previous groups delivered in primary schools across Devon focused on building emotional resilience over 6 x weekly sessions. The results showed that when using a 10-point outcome scale, there was a consistently positive impact in 3 areas – confidence and self-belief, building positive relationships and managing behaviour effectively. By adding family and one to one sessions to the group model, we aim to build on this impact.

How will the money be spent?

The money will be spent on facilitating 3 groups over 10 weeks, each group supporting 6 families. We aim to raise £4950 which will cover facilitator costs, assessment and outcomes measurement, administration, travel expenses, room hire, resources and materials.

This project successfully funded on 5th December 2017