Joanna Manning, programme manager, The Children's Society Nottingham
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Joanna Manning manages an initiative targeting children whose parents misuse drugs or alcohol.
What do you do?
I manage The Children's Society's Stars programme, an initiative targeting children whose parents misuse drugs or alcohol. There are two parts to it: Stars Nottingham and a national programme providing information and support for practitioners working with children and families. We have just received funding from Comic Relief and the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
How did you get involved?
I worked with vulnerable children in London for 15 years but was looking to move back to Lincoln. I was after a quieter life but, ironically, with this job it's more hectic than ever. However, it strikes a chord with me and I feel very passionate about it.
Why is Nottingham leading it?
Nottingham has always recognised that children need to be supported and its recent needs assessment identified around 15,000 children affected by drugs and alcohol. We are now a national project because of our experience in areas such as workforce development, as highlighted in the government's Hidden Harm report. It makes sense to have a national service attached to a local initiative as we can feed the voices of children directly into the service.
What challenges do you face?
Although we run a specialist service in Nottingham where there is an increased need for it, not every area can have one. My focus is making this everybody's responsibility through workforce development and building confidence in mainstream services. We are funded from an alcohol funding stream but there are cross-cutting agendas we cannot ignore, such as domestic violence, poor housing or family breakdown. It is sometimes difficult to get people to consider the bigger picture.
How do you make a difference?
We are one of the few national schemes working exclusively with children. We help children make sense of the fact that their situation is not their fault and they have a future. Just having somebody they can talk to for an hour a week makes a difference. Children need an opportunity to talk about how they feel.
