What we do
Our vision is to break the cycle of intergenerational trauma.
Mission
Our mission is to keep children in the child protection system safe from harm. At New Beginnings we believe that by building meaningful relationships based on trust, respect and honesty, we can support parents to break the cycle of integenerational trauma.
We are an independent charity that works in partnership with children's services. We therefore have the independence and flexibility to tailor innovative therapeutic services to meet the needs of our families, whilst maintaining our strong commitment to tackling the issues that families in the child protection system face.
We recognise relationships between families and professionals can often become polarised due to context of the child protection system. We therefore work to improve channels of communication between parent and social worker through representation work
Promises
- We will always go the extra mile for our families.
- We never say 'good bye'; we will be there whenever we are needed.
- We will always be passionate about providing the best possible outcomes for parents and their children.
- For children to feel safe at home, we need to remember that our parents were once children themselves.
- We will embrace diversity and champion inclusion.
- We are committed to valuing difference and diversity in our workforce and the families we work with.
- We believe that identity should be celebrated and promoted so that individual needs can be met.
- We will nurture and strengthen caring relationships with families and professionals.
- We recognise that authentic participatory practice can only occur in spaces that are safe, supportive and open to challenge.
- We will value and invest in our staff so that they can be the transitional attachment figure families need to effect change.
- We give our team the same love, care and compassion as we do our families.
Group work sessions:
Each week parents attend a group session which has been designed to help them recognise who they are, understand why they parent in the way that they do and develop new skills which can help them progress and move forwards.
The group work sessions provide a safe and confidential space for parents to meet other parents who are in similar situations so that they can explore their stories together.
Group work is facilitated by qualified and experienced therapeutic social work practitioners who are supported by peer mentors (parents who have been through the programme who want to support others).
1:1 Key work sessions
Each parent is allocated a key worker when they start. The key worker will be an experienced therapeutic social worker and is the parent's first point of contact.
During key work sessions, they will carry out various activities that will help parents explore their own childhood, family dynamics, the attachment strategies they developed to keep safe and the impact certain significant events have had on them, and their children.
These sessions are designed to provide parents with the space for reflection on individual everyday life challenges and experiences.
Strengthening relationships between parent and child
Video Interaction Guidance (VIG) is used with parents who are struggling to connect with or parent their children. Recommended by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE), this valued evidence informed method uses a strengths based approach which we use with our families.
VIG is beneficial for parents as it gives them the opportunity to reflect on their interactions with their children through film. It also enables them to see what already works and what changes they can make to build better relationships with their loved ones.
Parental representation
We have learned that parents often find it difficult to navigate the child protection system because, quite simply, it can be very confusing.
Therefore, when parents join New Beginnings their allocated key worker, who will be an experienced social worker and will have first hand knowledge of how the child protection system works, is on hand to attend professional meetings with them so that they can feel supported, get their point across, help them to better understand what is being said, whilst at the same time help other professionals hear the progress they are making on New Beginnings.
The key worker will also support the parent with any other issues they may find challenging.
The 'Story of your Life' App & Book
The programme is accompanied by a digital app and/or paper workbook which has been designed to mirror the content of the group work sessions and the 1:1 key work sessions. Each chapter has been created to help meet parents' individual learning needs, with animated video, interviews with former parents and other audio content. The Story of your Life workbook has been specifically developed for parents to reflect on their own experiences in their own time.
Post Programme Support
Peer mentoring
When parents complete the programme, they are offered the opportunity to do the peer mentoring training. Once they become peer mentors they are invited to work for New Beginnings facilitating groups for new parents to the project. They are also able to provide 1:1 support to parents who might benefit from advice and support from those who know what they are going through.
Drop In Centre
Every day we have a range of workshops running at the New Beginnings Centre where parents (and their children) can meet other families and peer mentors face to face. The centre is a safe place which provides families with company; good support; advice; fun and laughter. Our workshops are designed to support parents tackle everyday life challenges as well as learn new skills. At present we have a Men's Group; SMART; Hoarders Group; Life Laundry; Survivors; and a Mum and Baby group. We also run activities such as: arts and crafts; yoga and meditation.