CYP Now Awards winner profile: 3D Drumchapel
Charlotte Goddard
Friday, June 10, 2022
Glasgow-based charity 3D Drumchapel, which won the family support category at the CYP Now Awards 2020, has supported families in one of the most deprived areas in Scotland for more than 20 years.
Drumchapel is one of the most deprived areas of Scotland with many families facing extreme hardship. Almost half of the area’s children live in poverty while more than half of households with dependent children are single-parent households. Local families struggle with high unemployment, low educational attainment, poor health, high incidences of suicide and self-harm, and a high number of teenage pregnancies.
It is against this challenging backdrop that 3D Drumchapel aims to realise its ambition of making Drumchapel the best place in Scotland to grow up. Launched in 1997 as a mum and toddler group working with a handful of families, the organisation has expanded to offer a packed schedule of universal and targeted family support from outdoor play sessions to intensive one-to-one work with families.
The stress of poverty can make it hard for parents, preoccupied by difficulties in finding food and housing, to meet children’s emotional needs, affecting their development and future wellbeing. Research shows children from deprived areas tend to do worse at school but parental engagement can make a difference. 3D aims to provide a space where families can deal with issues in their lives, build on strengths, and create robust relationships with their children, which can protect against the impact of adverse childhood experiences. Parents are helped to build their skills, confidence, self-esteem, ability to cope and network of support, while children are given opportunities to play and interact with others.
“We try to encourage families to spend as much positive time together as possible,” says 3D Drumchapel chief executive Sharon Colvin. “A lot of what we do is provide support so parents feel they have the capacity, strength and the space to parent.”
Staff are trained in the Solihull Approach, a way of working that emphasises supporting people to process their emotions, experiences and feelings. “It is about supporting people to be aware of past trauma that is still unprocessed, to deal with that and move forward,” says Colvin.
The key to 3D’s success is without doubt its position at the heart of the community. Children whose parents took them to sessions some years ago are now returning with children of their own. Many parents who have benefited from the programme go on to volunteer and children and families are involved in shaping and informing 3D’s work.
Peer support is built into the project. “We create the space, capacity and time for people to come together and make their own connections, and that is much more valuable than the support we can offer,” says Colvin.
Marion Lindsay, senior children and family worker, cites the example of Space Peer Support, a monthly group for carers of children with additional support needs, which she co-facilitates with a parent. “Her own son has additional support needs, so she totally gets it in a way I will never be able to understand, because she has come through so many of the issues that families are bringing to the table,” says Lindsay.
Jackie Niccolls, service manager for the north west area of Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership, has experience of 3D’s work both as a frontline social worker and in her current more strategic role. “It’s something we’re trying very hard to shift, but people often mistrust social workers, which means advice and guidance which is well-intended is often not received well,” she says, "3D doesn’t have that – they are well known in the community.”
Parents might come for a baby massage course or toddler group, and as workers get to know them they can offer other options such as sessions around building self-esteem or children’s first aid courses. All 3D sessions are free. The stability of the organisation means workers can build relationships with families over a long period of time. “We are not going anywhere, so we have got time to travel with the parents at a pace that’s good for them,” says Lindsay. Families can drop in and out of the project as and when they need support.
The pandemic forced 3D to adapt its services to support families facing financial difficulties, struggling with limited space and isolation, and trying to manage the increased pressure on their mental health and family relationships. The team hit the phones, making regular calls to check in and provide the emotional support families had been getting from face-to-face sessions and classes. “People were scared, worried about things, isolated and they just needed to hear a voice on the phone,” says Lindsay.
Practical support included sourcing and distributing hot meals, food supplies, baby formula and food, nappies, fruit and vegetables, pamper packs for parents, tablets and laptops, art and craft supplies and food vouchers to families in need, as well as grants to help with broken-down washing machines and other white goods.
Some sessions moved online while new ones were developed, including a weekly family disco and bedtime stories. “There were some things we tried online and it just didn’t work,” says Lindsay. “For example, baby massage is designed for people to be there in person – they want their baby to meet other babies and they want to meet other people.”
Since 3D first launched, some things have changed for the better in Drumchapel and other things for the worse. “Drumchapel was always at the top of every bad list and at the bottom of every good list,” says John Purves, minister of St Andrew’s Church in Drumchapel and one of 3D’s board of directors. “Now when you look at the statistics that is not always the case, although there are still a lot of people facing significant challenges.”
One thing that has improved is housing – damp tenements with mould growing on walls have been replaced by new houses with gardens, says Lindsay. However, she says there has been an increase in working poverty. “I don’t think food poverty was so prevalent 20-odd years ago – it’s a huge issue now,” she says. “We have a lot of families who are working, some working two jobs, and they are really struggling.”
3D’s 15 paid staff and 33 volunteers are seen as the lynchpin of the organisation. There is a strong focus on training. All staff are trained in child protection and coaching skills, allowing them to support families to identify and work towards their own goals. Individual staff members are trained to facilitate specific programmes such as attachment-based antenatal programme Mellow Bumps and Seasons for Growth, for children who have experienced loss and change. A volunteer development co-ordinator helps the team of volunteers improve their skills and experience.
Partnership working has become increasingly important as the organisation has evolved and grown. “It got to the point where 3D can only do so much,” says Colvin. “We can only really change things for families if we are working in collaboration with partners in social work and education, as one big team.” 3D has driven the development of the Drumchapel Children and Families Network which brings together professionals working with children and their families across all sectors to share best practice, identify gaps, test new ideas and scale these up if appropriate.
Colvin says she is hopeful about the direction of travel when it comes to social policy in Scotland, citing initiatives such as The Promise Scotland, which is responsible for driving the work of change demanded by the findings of the country’s Independent Care Review. “There is a real collective will and momentum about putting resources and time and energy into figuring out what ‘better’ looks like,” she says. “There is work going on around ensuring services are trauma-informed and that’s a piece of work we are bringing into Drumchapel through the Children and Families Network.”
A recent external evaluation of 3D by Community Enterprise, which supports charities and voluntary sector organisations, found partners felt working with the organisation improved outcomes for families and community relationships, made them better able to meet local needs and helped them to move towards preventative strategies. “I have heard my colleagues saying if we could replicate 3D in other areas, it would just be fantastic,” says Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership’s Jackie Niccolls.
Partner organisations felt the removal of children from the child protection register was a key indicator of impact on the lives of local children and families. “If 3D were not there, social worker involvement would increase, because there are cases where they have been able to intervene in families’ lives and make a real difference,” says Niccolls.
The evaluation found 94 per cent of parents, partners, staff and volunteers surveyed rated 3D as “excellent” with six per cent saying it was “good”. Service users said involvement with 3D services affected their lives in several key ways, including increased confidence, self-esteem and resilience, improved family relationships, reduced anxiety and depression and improved child development.
In the end, says Colvin, the role of 3D is to help families to help themselves. “These are families with so much resilience, it just shines out of them,” she says. “It doesn’t matter how hard life knocks them, the resilience people have to keep going and do their best for their families is incredible.”
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To find out about this year’s CYP Now Awards including the categories and how to enter go to www.cypnowawards.com/ and to read about last year’s winners and to watch the ceremony go to www.cypnowawards.com/winners-2021
