Caring to Care is an emotional health and wellbeing service targeted to children who are looked after by the Cheshire West and Chester local authority. They deliver a wide range of interventions through community outreach, groups and 1:1 work, and assess progress using routine outcome monitoring.
Caring to Care is an emotional health and wellbeing service targeted to children who are looked after by the Cheshire West and Chester local authority. They deliver a wide range of interventions through community outreach, groups and 1:1 work, and assess progress using routine outcome monitoring.
The service has a no waitlist policy; referrals are allocated an assessment appointment as they are received, with a mean time to assessment of 2 weeks (max 4 weeks) and 6 weeks on average to intervention (max 8 weeks). They provide a flexible approach to service delivery, meeting children and young people at locations they feel safest and can attend easily, such as school, home, and children’s centres.
Key worker support
Children and young people are allocated a key worker with whom they will develop a tailored plan around their individual needs, identifying appropriate interventions and steps to access other services, if necessary. This may include helping children and young people attend sessions or for those who are not ready to engage with therapy, pre-therapy support through group, 1:1 and youth work. Key workers are also responsible for developing exit plans with children and young people, to ensure successful discharge.
Support for family and carers
Support for family and carers includes an advice and guidance phone line, foster carer groups exploring behaviours and coping strategies, and an offer of free training programmes for carers and professionals. Their aims for service development centre on securing greater engagement of groups and developing a peer-led support community.
Co-production and participation
The service employs a young person apprentice to help advocate for young people and ensure the work remains focused on their needs in a way that is meaningful and engaging.
What makes this service an example of positive practice?
Caring to Care was developed to respond to the needs of clients and by listening to their voice. Therapeutic and social groups were developed in response to some young people finding 1:1 therapy daunting. It meant more young people could be seen and those who were not yet ready for therapy (for example due to being in denial about an issue) could attend to prepare them for therapy sessions. Young people often say that attending a therapeutic institution is worrying as they don’t want to be seen there, which is why the team will work in their home, school, or local community to ensure the client feels comfortable and that they can engage.
The service over the year (2016-17) has shown positive outcomes. 110 young people have been open to the service and 73% of these young people maintain their placement through the intervention, while 16% were able to make a planned move to a new placement. The service can also demonstrate that 88% of young people, 96% of carers and 75% of social workers have reported positive experiences with the level of service offered.
Further details
| Commissioning | Cheshire West and Chester Local Authority | ||||||||||
| Providers | Core Assets Children’s Services | ||||||||||
| Workforce (WTE) | 1 senior therapist, 1 psychotherapist, 3 arts therapists, 1 social worker, 1 service manager, 0.5 contract lead, 0.5 therapy manager, 0.5 young person coordinator and 1 young person worker | ||||||||||
| Population size | Whole population – 332680, under 18 – 66571 (Office of National Statistics 2016 mid-year population estimates for Cheshire West and Chester) | ||||||||||
| Caseload | In their first year, they received 110 referrals, 59 received direct support, 51 were supported to more specialist intervention. The mean number of contacts was 19 (range1 to 104) with the length of time on caseload between 3-6 months. | ||||||||||
| Prevention and resilience – universal and early intervention for at risk | |||||
| Access and advice – consultation lines, triage and signposting | |||||
| Early support and brief interventions | |||||
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