How staff boost their knowledge of misuse

Project
Overland Children's Centre

Purpose
To improve outcomes for families affected by substance abuse

Funding
Addaction got a two-year grant of £488,000 from the Department for Education to deliver the national First Steps pilot

Background
Staff and managers at Overland Children's Centre in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets were keen to improve support for local families affected by substance misuse. "We identified a local need through data analysis," says Sarah Bromfield, community lead for Overland Children's Centre. "We were already working with some families, but knew we could do more." So the centre applied to be part of the national First Steps trial scheme funded by the Department of Education and delivered by substance misuse charity Addaction. The aim of First Steps was to boost support for families by developing the skills and knowledge of professionals working with them.

Action
The centre was chosen as one of 15 pilot sites and supported by a family development manager from Addaction. As part of the scheme, which ran from January 2012 to March 2013, it hosted two training days for children's professionals across Tower Hamlets to raise awareness of drug and alcohol abuse and families' needs. It also developed a "whole-centre approach" with three key aims - engaging and retaining more families affected by substance misuse; improving staff skills and knowledge; and improving relationships with and referrals to adult treatment services.

"We really did take a whole centre approach, so it involved admin staff, play and learning staff and family support workers," says Bromfield. "We started with a basic training programme and then identified the specific learning needs of each team."

Throughout, there was a focus on improving outcomes for children, and the welfare of individual children was tracked through Common Assessment Framework assessments and by monitoring Early Years Foundation Stage milestones. The scheme has helped boost partnership work locally, including awareness of the support available for families, says Bromfield.

"We talk about drug and alcohol problems a lot more and it is now an explicit part of what the centre does, so families know we work with families affected by substance misuse and that there is support available the moment they step through the door," she says.

While the First Steps project has come to an end, the centre is taking forward the approach and most recently hosted a "Hidden Harm" seminar for children's professionals in Tower Hamlets. The event, put together in collaboration with charities DrugFAM and Children of Addicted Parents, was part of efforts to share the lessons learned by Overland with other centres and agencies, explains Jo Freeman, children's centres locality lead.

Those attending included social workers, early years practitioners, mental health workers, adult treatment services, the young carers team and families. Overland is continuing to look at ways to improve services including establishing a project for mums affected by substance misuse, working with the women's drug treatment service Isis and a specialist substance abuse midwife.

Outcome
A national evaluation of First Steps by the University of Warwick, published in April, concluded the programme had a lasting impact on children's workers' knowledge, skills and confidence. Six to eight months after the one-day training course, 94 per cent of participants agreed it had improved their knowledge of how to support families affected by substance misuse, while 91 per cent said it had improved their skills in this area and 90 per cent said it had boosted their confidence in engaging such families.

Overland Children's Centre was one of the most successful pilot sites. Over the 14 months, the number of families affected by substance misuse who were engaged with the centre increased from 0 to 23. Referrals to adult services also increased from 0 to eight - with many more since.

The Hidden Harm seminar also proved a success with 90 per cent of attendees reporting they were "inspired" by the event. Seventy-six per cent said it had improved their knowledge of how substance misuse affected families, while 70 per cent said it had improved their knowledge of the impact of substance misuse on children.

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