Europeace Youth Ltd Vulnerable Children and Families Brian De Lord - CEO 21/22nd March 2013 Team Teach Conference

Europeace Youth Ltd

Vulnerable Children and Families

Brian De Lord - CEO21/22nd March 2013 Team Teach Conference Roles of Brian De LordEnglish and Drama teacherTeacher I/C of Sanctuary UnitSenior Neighbourhood Youth and Community Worker Photography tutor Adult EducationTeacher in charge of EBD StudentsSchool Counselor Senior Project workerUniversity Lecturer Chief Executive Head Teacher

History of PPP

Southall Riots

Small Fragmented Local Authority Response

Expansion of Services in West LondonEducational and multi-disciplinary support for children, families, and communities creation of a pedagogy the FrameworkRegistered Not-for-Profit Social Enterprise

Ofsted registered Independent school

International work and partnershipsThe Range of PPP Interventions:Teaching and learning Ofsted Registered School

Curriculum innovation RSA Curriculum

Therapeutic support; 1:1, group therapy, family therapy

Vocational Education Community Support

Advocacy

Mentoring support volunteers, families.

Residentials

The Clients:Vulnerable young children, their families and their communities.Young refugees, new arrivals, migrants and unaccompanied foreign minorsNEETS, youth offenders, prisoners and their familiesThe Training:Mentoring, Supervision, Group work, working with Families, building and maintaining networks, Non-Oppressive Practice, Europeace Youth Framework, 21st Learning Characteristics & Partnership working. The PPP ProjectsEuropeace Youth in Action Breaking the Cycle of Violence - Daphne European Dimension EC Freedom, Security & Justice, Juvenile Gangs in the UK Mental health needs for Young offenders Daphne II E-Learning for All e-learning for vulnerable learners. Residentials Children in Need Anti- Guns, Gangs & Knives Home Office funded ITACA EC Fundamental Rights & Citizenship, Juvenile gangs in Europe & S. America Creating spaces of Experience Grundtvig, Emotional learning blocks Vocational Footprints Leonardo, Making vocational education sustainable Exploring the Legacy of Oppression - Grundtvig Youth in Focus Big Lottery, with Action Acton West London Focus Skills Funding Agency, with CfBT Engaged in Education DfE, with Catch 22 Teaching Trainers for Migrants & Roma GrundtvigNet for U EC Freedom, Security & justice, Unaccompanied Foreign minors

Home Office ProjectTargeted at young people in danger of becoming involved in gang activityPartnership with Ealing Youth & Connexions Service and Diagrama UKRecruit mentors with experience of gang activityTrain them in mentoring skills & attachment theory7Assessment and identification Children who have experienced and have carried out random acts of violence or public humiliation have experienced and have made use of terror techniques such as bullying, threats or assault are both victim and the perpetrator of aggressive behaviour are unable to demonstrate signs of empathy with their victims are unable to express emotions or show signs of their own vulnerability feel an inappropriate level of debt, either emotional or financial, to family or friends have extreme reactions to outside challenges and swing between being calm and traumatised find it hard to reconcile conflicting feelings of love and hateare unable to develop emotional defences against experiences of shame and humiliation about gang culture experience or act out violence as a necessary form of self preservation

8Strategies to combat the lure of gang cultureCreate a safe environmentEnsure someone is always available/ Work closely with the family/ Work collaborativelyDevelop and sustain a trusting relationshipEncourage an initially dependant relationship/ Establish a nurturing relationship/ Be accessible at all times and engage consistently/ Demonstrate and model empathy/ Listen activelyTeach emotional awareness Advance emotional learning by encouraging self reflection, empathy and accepting responsibility/ Demonstrate honesty, humility, humour and humanity/ Understand and explore the source of violent feelings/ Raise awareness of negative patterns of behaviourFind strategies for coping with frustration Demonstrate and develop language to replace violence as expression of emotions/ Encourage communication/ Avoid punishment and reward strategies but raise awareness of social norms and boundaries Develop viable strategies for sustainable changeThrough individual and group mentoring raise awareness and acknowledgement of negative patterns of behaviour/ Help develop a shame shield by exploring the concept and consequences of shame/ Explore positive life changes and plans for the future/ Support family members to ensure that changes are sustainable98 Essentials for Combating Gang Crime Nurture; a nurturing relationship is the key to rebuilding a young persons self confidence and ability to positively negotiate their environment. Initiatives taking place around the country to deal with gangs and youth crime are valuable but can be improved by including nurture and attachment learning Empathy and integrity; Mentoring is the best way of tackling gang related behaviour in young people, however it was stressed that mentoring must at all times be honestFamily work; supporting parents properly is absolutely key to helping young people move away from the influences of gang culture.Community; working with young people in isolation will have limited success if the entrenched problems within their wider community are not properly taken into account. 5. Mental health; must be taken into account in any strategy that deals with their behaviourLegacy of oppression; PPP believe that the legacy of oppression, of any form and to any community, must be adequately understood and explored when dealing with young people who are involved in gang crimeSpecific Learning Difficulties; At least 60 % of young people involved in serious crime have specific learning difficultiesRemain optimistic; gang crime among young people is extremely complex, emotive and causes immeasurable suffering for the people who are involved. However in London, of the 1.8million young people, less than 1% is involved in crime.

The problem must not be ignored or over-exaggerated, but kept in perspective.

StaffSelf AwareVulnerableHumbleNurturingCreative CuriousCourageExperimentationFocused on exploring potential rather than mapping limitationsFramework IntroductionThe framework can be broken down into the following;

The practices The qualities The theories The application The environmentThe PracticesReflexive Practice: The ability to analyse ones own practice against a variety of benchmarking frameworks. This would build connections with: emotional literacy, self-awareness, motivation, systemic influences including parental, cultural, societal, economic etc.

There are two aspects of Reflexive Practice worth highlighting:

Non-Oppressive Practice: the use of relevant theories & concepts to actively expose and transform prejudice both in ourselves & others. Inter-Disciplinary Practice: the ability to use a variety of professional disciplines in thinking & behaviour to enable the service to become more accessible.Deliberate Practice:The ability to step out of our practitioner comfort zones and experiment with new interventions and theories.

Human Qualities4 Hs; Honesty, Humanity, Humour, HumilityIntegrityTrustAccurate EmpathyRespectCareCuriosity Courage and Risk takingLoyalty HopeLoveResilienceThe Qualities - ProcessHonestyHumanityHumourHumilityIntegrityTrustAccurate EmpathyRespectCareHopeLoveResilience

Deceitfulness Insularity Superficiality Arrogance Prejudice Insecurity Identification Fear Defeatism Judgemental DefensivenessThe qualities, generally taken for granted, cannot develop without actively exploring the oppositional nature of the conflicts listed above.The TheoriesAttachment - The importance of a positive significant relationship between child and carer.Attunement - The Wave Trust; Emotional trigger for violence.Reparenting / Empowerment - Do vulnerable children need a re-parenting experience or empowering? Perhaps both?Neurology Discoveries around Brain function, and The impact of oppression/oppressing on physical brain growth.

Education / Learning Styles - Appropriate curriculum, accelerated learning, learning power.Adult and Community Education - Capacity building for voluntary / community groups and individuals. e.g. Peer Activists, Roma Assistant Teachers, training prisoners as mentors.

Theories continuedPerson-Centred Psychodynamic Cognitive BehaviouralMulti-Cultural Therapy Gender Continuum Cultural Identity TheoryGang CultureLanguage and Communication DifficultiesSpecific Learning Difficulties e.g. dyslexia, ADHD etcPartnership / Networking Individualism / CollectivismImportance of Context i.e. Families and Communities21st Century Learning Characteristics This is not an exhaustive list of the possibilities and should be used when appropriate.Which of these theories are oppositional and which are collaborative?

17The ApplicationExperience / practiceTrainingSelf learningPeer group learningProfessional BoundariesRisk ManagementSupervisionTeam BuildingManagementPartnershipEvaluation

These facilitate the relationship between the other three, and contribute to the quality of service. How do we navigate the conflicting experiences we have during this process?

The EnvironmentPartnership/NetworkingCollaboration not ManipulationService delivery structure organised around the needs of children, families and accessibility.Target SettingThe variation in socio-political contexts across Europe The Media Social capitalHow do we use these concepts within the contexts of: the individual, the family, the wider community, the national and international communities, in partnership with other statutory and voluntary agencies?

Without a supportive environment most innovation will eventually retreat into habitual behaviour.

SummaryIt is a model that emphasises the Why and How rather than the What. We feel that an enormousamount of ideas are generated around different types of interventions in an effort to initiate changes ofbehaviour in this client group. An equal focus on our motives and devising more effective ways ofdelivering services would generate greater success.

The model is based on a foundation of three practices: Reflexive Practice: The ability to consider a variety of influences in decision making, including personal history.Non-oppressive Practice: being able to approach all relationships with an awareness of possible prejudices.Multi-Disciplinary Practice: The ability to think and act professionally in a variety of disciplines.

The model then emphasises the importance of human qualities, such as Honesty, Integrity, Trust and Resilience, that are critical to service delivery and yet not the focus of any practitioner or policy maker training.

Theories devised by academics, researchers and practitioners around the subject of children and families also deserve consideration. Theories such as attachment, attunement and brain development should shape the delivery of services.

The model focuses on the application of the above, underlining aspects such as evaluation, training and professional supervision.

Finally, the model underlines the importance of appropriate service delivery structures and other contextual influences to ensure effective outcomes for vulnerable children & families.

Implications for IndividualsPractitioners have to be emotionally literate.

They need to respond rather than react.

They need to have a wider knowledge base than their professional role suggests. They need to actively cultivate human qualities and demonstrate them within professional boundaries.

Implications for Individuals (2)They need to understand the benefits of working in a non-oppressive manner.

They need to feel confident about exposing their vulnerability around inherent prejudice.

Some of them need to aspire to become a new type of professional the multi-skilled practitioner.

They need to be responsible risk takers.

Implications for OrganisationsWhat would an emotionally literate organisation look like?

Provide access to knowledge, training and structures that would support the practitioners.

Create a work environment that is sensitive to practitioner vulnerability and insecurity yet still insists on personal & professional development.

Create a training structure that produces the multi-skilled professional.

Create ways of bench-marking the new cross-disciplinary competencies.

Manage staff against a firm theoretical and practical model.Implications for Policy MakersCreate service delivery structures that incorporate the multi-skilled professional into teams supported by other practitioners that may well be specialists.

Create networks for collaborative partnership work to evolve, whilst having integration as an ultimate goal.

Investing in specific types of training to support the new structures, philosophies, theories, and practices.

Highlight the differences and relationships between targets and Key Performance Indicators, in order that it is the work that is the focus, rather than the diversion of meeting targets.

Quote"I feel with some passion that what we truly are is private, and almost infinitely complex, and ambiguous, and both external and internal, and double- or triple- or multiply natured, and largely mysterious even to ourselves; and furthermore that what we are is only part of us, because identity, unlike "identity", must include what we do. And I think that to find oneself and every aspect of this complexity reduced in the public mind to one property that apparently subsumes all the rest ("gay", "black", "Muslim", whatever) is to be the victim of a piece of extraordinary intellectual vulgarity."

Phillip Pullman

The Future.Europeace Youth Org Double Helix Client Group Europeace Youth

Schools Complementary/ Alternative Post 16 Services Further Education CollegesVocational CentresRefugees & New Arrivals Youth Offending/YOIsFostering & Adoption Services NEETSPrison/ersLong Term UnemployedLocal & National Education/Health/Social ServicesAssessments:EducationalTherapeuticIn conjunction with Family/Community and other Agencies Involved. Negotiate Service Response E. P. Y.Student FamilyReferrer Choose Appropriate Menu for the StudentIndividual, Family & Community Assessment, Engagement & Therapeutic SupportTeaching & Learning QualificationE-Learning Mentoring Advocacy

Key worker Employer/Volunteer/Community Mentor Using the wider existing network Review & Response of initial Assessments (3 per Yr) Implementation of the Menu

Employers:TrainingParticipatingProgressionWork Experience Research InterviewsShadowing Colleges & UniversitiesProgressionResources Source of mentors PrisonsProgressionResources Source of mentors Wider Network:Tried and Tested CollaborationsNational OrganisationsConsultantsNGOs and Community GroupsOutputKey worker Employer/Volunteer/Community Mentor Supporting 60 Children/ Young People/ AdultsTransition to Further Education, Appropriate courses (including devising them) Employability ,Higher Education or Training , Underpinning thisMethodology Europeace FrameworkTraining and Supporting of Staff & Volunteers Creating and maintenance of Networks Devising new methods and interventionsDouble HelixDouble Helix is a newly set up not-for-profit company, designed to work in close collaboration with its sister charity, Europeace Youth (EPY). Whilst EPY will focus on delivering innovative and transformational services to vulnerable young people and their families, across the UK & Europe, Double Helix will design, manufacture and market products that will be used by practitioners and students connected to EPY and other organizations working with vulnerable client groups.

Examples of DH ProductsLife Double HelixLearning Double HelixOppression Double HelixThe Triangle of InteractionIm a Client: Get me out of HereThank you very much and please stay in touch

Brian De Lord CEO Europeace Youth

Bdelord@europeaceyouth.org