The Prevention and Intervention Programme

This intensive Training Programme combining the Solution Focused Brief Therapy Model (deShazer '85); Examine, Repair & Move On Approach (Murphy '93) and Optima Communication Skills (Murphy '06) and the frameworks and structures designed by the Consultancy to achieve better outcomes when working with children, young people and families.

Designated as Unique under Tender Regulations, is designed for use by Local Authorities and agencies as a focused whole-team resource when working with clients to bring about change. To date, nineteen local authorities across the UK have commissioned this Programme which is accessed as either a 7 or 12 day training programme.

Historically, the programme has been utilized to develop a "Gatekeeping" Service as a front-line resource when working with Children & Families to prevent family breakdown under Section 20 - this allows for the "freeing up" of placements for vulnerable or at risk children. Following the training, the designated team are able to use the Approach as both a preventative and crisis intervention.

The East Riding PIP team

EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE COUNCIL
The East Riding of Yorkshire Council Prevention & Intervention Programme (PIP) team, pictured above with Eileen Murphy (far left) and Graham Batty, Project & Practice Development Officer (far right) at the launch of the service on 25th March 2010.

Feedback from East Riding of Yorkshire Council, after two months of implementation:
The P&I implementation has been going very well to date. The team are using the skills successfully with families which is being reflected in the number of referrals we are now receiving from services across the board such as Health, Education, Youth Services as well as the Family Support Teams within the East Riding for the more intensive work.

Since the training the team has worked with over 35 families, of which, none of the children have entered into the care system. Since the end of March 2010 3 Family group meetings have taken place sucessfully with the families devising their own plan to support the young people within the family environment. The P&I training is providing invaluable in both the crisis intervention work and the family group meetings which the team facilitate. Due to the transferable skills the team are also using the P&I training in various pieces of parenting work aiding families to remain together as a unit."
Andrea Wallis,Team Leader,Prevention and Intervention Team,East Riding of Yorkshire Council.


The Spurgeons Walsall Team
SPURGEONS WALSALLin the West Midlands,completed their P&I in 2009:
Feedback from Spurgeons:
The training gives a more effective and efficient way of working, skilling up staff to work with families. This approach is definitely the way to work with families as it draws on the family strengths. The training was delivered very well - encouraging staff to implement the practice in their day-to-day work wih families immediately!
Harjinder Khatkar, Manager, Spurgeons, Walsall


Spurgeons Building and Family session rooms

As part of the P&I implementation, the Consultancy provide a "house doctor" review on the built environment in order to use existing resources to de-stigmatise "statutory intervention". Spurgeons Walsall, led by Harjinder Khatkar have created an inviting, comfortable space, pictured above, for working with families.

SALFORD: Salford City Council commissioned the P&I Programme to create The Brief Intervention Team in Salford - a city wide service with a focus on young people aged 7yrs to 17yrs and their families.


The Salford Brief Intervention Team led by Team Leader, Pat Garmory


The aims of Salford's service are:-
- To reduce the risk of family breakdown
- Support families in over-coming relationship issues
- Reduce the risk of permanent exclusion from school
- Support the reunification of Looked After Children
- Prevent foster placement breakdown

OXFORDSHIRE Oxfordshire Council implemented the P&I Programme in 2005 as part of their Children & Services Plan.



The Oxford Prevention & Intervention Practitioners receiving their completion certificates from
Director of Social Services, Charles Waddicor


LONDON BOROUGH OF MERTON The Consultancy were commissioned by Merton to train Family Support staff and the staff of the Phoenix Project run by Action for Children in 2005. The Care Matter Green Paper 2007 picks out the Phoenix Project as an example of best practice in crisis intervention: "The project received 181 referrals from Merton Council during 2005-2006 with 118 children and young people prevented from going into care".(source: www.cypnow.co.uk).


The Managers and staff at London Borough of Merton and Phoenix Project pictured with Eileen Murphy on their "Prevention & Intervention Information Day"

DUDLEY METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL Dudley commisioned the P&I for implemention with with the Family Support team at Greystone Passage.
Dudley Launch Information Release:
As a contribution to the local preventative strategy, the Children and Families Division has implemented the Prevention & Intervention service. The initiative is based on messages from research around supporting families and links with refocusing to provide a prompt preventative service.

The approaches embodies a forward-looking model and sets family-identified and family-owned targets over a short intervention period of 6 sessions. The language used is accessible and emphasis is given to engaging with the practical mindset of families, working within the family, socio-economic and ethnic cultural framework of building strengths.

Goal setting and graded achievement is an integral part of the process so that progress can be readily recognised by participants. Both parent and child are worked with in the session. Other family members and significant players, including teachers, will also be involved as appropriate.

The service will provide an extensive package of support to young people and their families. It wil offer a rapid response to emergency referrals and immediate request for accommodation in respect of children referrred under Section 20 will be firmly resisted until the intervention is completed.

By having the whole family together in a neutral setting it gives them a chance to listen to each other as well as to be heard and to know that their opinions are valued. The family then move from problem dominated thinking towards solution orientated thinking, talking and description. The trained practitioner acts as a conduit to move the service user from victim to a position of recognising their own strengths, resources, competences and solutions.

There are currently over 140 families receiving a service. The training in the summer had an extremely positive impact on the teams and staff morale remains high. The resulting self confidence and optimism is brought to the families during the sessions and the successful outcomes so far achieved reinforces how powerful this method of intervention can be. In terms of impact on the organisation the desired outcomes of the service were, for children and young people aged 11 and over ;

- Increase service user satisfaction
- Reduce the size of the Looked After population
- Reduce the number of new admissions to care
- Reduce the duration of care episodes
- Reduce spot purchased external placements due to capacity issues
- Reduce out of hours admissions

Questionnaire returns over the last six months have indicated a high level of satisfaction from families and service users and data from our management information systems show a significant drop of around 50% in the number of new admissions to care for this group of young people including a sharp fall in out of hours admissions. In the last few months the directorate has been able to bring back four young people from external placements which were made due to lack of internal capacity.
John Donnelly
Service Manager – Family Support – Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council

ISLE OF WIGHT COUNCIL: Isle of Wight Council implemented the Prevention & Intervention Programme with their Family Support Outreach Team.
Feedback from the Director of Social Services & Housing: I have used Eileen Murphy Consultants as a change agent for social workers and their managers to divert young people from the care system. Eileen Murphy developed the approach when I was Director of Housing and Social Services in Sutton and I re-engaged her to work on similar issues on the Isle of Wight. In both cases her approach made a significant difference to the numbers of young people going into public care.

On the Isle of Wight we have reduced the numbers in public care by 12% in 2 years against a national trend of rising numbers. Much of this reversal I put down to the effectiveness of Eileen's training and teaching. The Isle of Wight has established itself as a 2 star authority after a failed Joint review in 1999. The SSI have determined we are serving most children well and have promising prospects for improvement. I would have no hesitation in recommending Eileen Murphy Consultants for work in this area.
Charles Waddicor, Director of Social Services & Housing, Isle of Wight Council (now Director at Oxfordshire County Council)

BRACKNELL FOREST:Bracknell Forest Borough Council implemented the P&I with a wide group of Children & Family staff:
Feedback from the Service Manager, Bracknell Social Services:
The Prevention & Intervention training was received enthusiastically by Bracknell Forest children's teams who are now using their skills in everyday situations with the children and families they work with.

The training has changed our way of thinking and shifted the emphasis from problem solving to looking at change and possibilities.

The training was fun and very well presented and the next "batch" of social workers are waiting eagerly to complete the training.

We are using the tools and have had some very good results. We are now able to offer families an alternative and by enabling them to take control - the results speak for themselves.
Verna Goodman, Bracknell Social Services.

LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL: The P&I was implemented by Liverpool City Council in 2000.
Feedback from the Executive Director, Liverpool City Council:
Eileen Murphy and her colleagues have been an inspiration to staff enabling them to develop their skills and achieve what, at the start, they considered impossible.

The Consultancy's approach empowers individuals to work positively with young people and their families and to achieve results that mend broken relationships.

Eileen Murphy Consultants have also trained the staff at Liverpool Secure Unit and the feedback from staff is positive and the young people in the secure unit are experiencing a professional service that allows them to start putting their lives onto a different plane. The Consultancy is now engaged to train young people as mentors to work supporting other young people.
Annie Shepperd, Executive Director, Liverpool City Council (now Chief Executive, London Borough of Southwark Council)

For further feedback from participants and commissioners of the programme - please visit the Testimonials page

The Programme is designed for use by teams who wish to use the approach as a focused whole-team resource when working with clients to bring about change.

The Programme is also offered to YOT teams to prevent recidivism., Drug & Alcohol Teams to help clients achieve change and to Education teams to reduce disaffection and exclusion.