Over 80 practitioners and service providers, commissioners and interested others from across Somerset came together on 18th July to start to map, learn and collaborate around the needs of our young people in Somerset. We were particularly interested in improving their resilience and to improve school attendance while raising children’s aspirations focusing on what is already in our communities.
A lively start to the networking and mapping work, led by Jane Knowles from SASP, who Chairs the Early Help Network started to examine the many services that can be used by schools and others to provide support to young people. Relationships were seen to be key to this and people were encouraged to meet, greet and share their work and/or areas of need. Outputs from this can be found here https://www.sasp.co.uk/early-help-forum
The second half of the morning was brilliantly led by Helen Emmings of The Nelson Trust around Trauma Informed Practice looking at how we can move along the trauma informed journey from trauma aware and contemplating change through to trauma informed where we would expect to sustain this change. The session finished with a scripted compassion circle which was well received by all attendees. All resources from the morning including scripted compassion practices can be found here: Compassion Practices | Liberating Compassion: Compassion Practices for All
A huge thank you to all participants whose growth mindsets and energy made the morning such a positive experience for us all
Please do join the Early Help Network if you wish by e mailing EarlyHelpNetwork@somerset.gov.uk It is open to everyone working at early help levels within Somerset.
The Early Help Network is a network of statutory and voluntary organisations. It reports into the Children, Young People and Families Board and the Connect Somerset Steering Group. Its purpose is to advocate for children, young people and families and to ensure children’s early help practitioners across Somerset are well informed about early help practice in the county. It also is designed to provide a well-informed input into Connect Somerset and the Children and Families Board.
