SWIS Emergency Crisis/Respite Support

• Offering bespoke support to meet the needs including ‘Out of hours’ emergency fast response.

We offer overnight and a 24-hour staffed services which includes waking/sleeping night support staff and on call Manager. We can also offer support to foster placements, supportive living accommodation and transportation in and out of County.

How our services help young people?

Using a professionally qualified staff team who have the expertise in child sexual exploitation, drugs and alcohol, mental health and complex and additional needs which may impact on stability of placements.

Intervention Programmes

 At SWIS we offer various Intervention programmes to meet the needs of individuals and below are some examples:

Turnaround

This intervention is aimed at young people who are at risk of exclusion from education, their family and the wider community and/or involved in, or at risk of, anti-social behaviour.  It aims to support young people to develop strategies by enabling a better understanding of the impact of their behaviours; increasing positive aspirations and confidence and improving their self-image.  This is achieved through 1:1 support and engagement in positive activities and can include transitional work for reintegration.

What’s life

This intervention is aimed at young people who need additional support and input in relation to health personal safety and well-being issues.  It focuses on safeguarding, drug and alcohol use, sexual heath, self/body image and healthy eating/lifestyles.   This is achieved through; 1:1 support, small group work sessions, project and special interest work.

Protective Behaviours

Safety awareness interventions for children and young people, which aim to build self-esteem and increased confidence and assertiveness relating to feeling and being safe and include Independent skills and personal development.

Anger Management

A programme aimed at enabling young people to develop skills and strategies for dealing with anger.  It focuses on the difference between anger and aggression, raising awareness of personal anger/stress relating to transitions, reducing destructive behaviours and identifying early warning signs.

Friends – Emotional resilience

An emotional resilience programme that incorporates physiological, cognitive and behavioural strategies aimed at assisting children and young people in coping with stress and worry.

The Reintegration Programme (at a glance)

Our aim is to work in partnership with schools to provide a safe, secure and stimulating environment for students at risk of exclusion. We offer a high quality learning programme focused on students’ individual needs.

We provide the additional support to avoid exclusion.   By identifying the concerns and putting in the interventions, we aim to avoid costly exclusions which has a positive impact on the child / young person.  We tailor our support to meet your needs..  Our packages of support are often for 6 weeks. 

When students have completed the Reintegration Programme they return to school equipped to start their learning again.  We carry out a ‘readiness to reintegrate assessment’ during the programme.

Ladder Outcomes

A Ladder Outcomes reading is taken by the worker and young person at or near the beginning of their time with SWIS. Using the objectives for the intervention, in line with our Theory of Change model, they identify together where on their ladder of change the young person is for each outcome area. Each step on the ladder is associated with a numerical score so at the end of the process the scores can be plotted and used alongside their Readiness for Reintegration assessment. The process is then repeated at regular intervals (every four or six weeks) to track progress. This data is used to track the social and emotional progress of the young person.

Family Support

We work alongside families to support them in developing skills, knowledge and confidence to overcome any difficulties they may be experiencing within the family home. This might include support with household routine and support to understand and manage a child’s behaviour.

Our workers are experienced staff with a range of backgrounds and qualifications that enable them to support both parents and children. They use an inclusive approach, supporting families from different backgrounds, cultures and religions. We work alongside families to achieve the best outcomes for each and every family.

 Supervised Contact

 SWIS provides Supervised Contact and Family Support services as an integral part of our commitment to meeting the needs of situations where families and individuals are subject to Court Orders, or where legal process or investigation is ongoing and observations are required. We provide experienced Supervised Contact Workers able to work flexibly to meet the needs of children and families as well as ensuring that the mandates of the court or interventions required by Social Services are met. We produce full written reports on contact sessions and these are detailed and robust to an evidential standard. It is our aim to produce and forward reports on the day of contact and we are always aware of the need to produce high quality observations within the often-limited time spans ordered by the Court.

 Therapy Dogs

 There is an increase to children and young people in their understanding of responsibility and developing empathy and nurturing skills.   In addition to these benefits, children take great enjoyment from interaction with animals. Our therapy dogs are used because we want to encourage those children who are vulnerable, or those who maybe experiencing difficulties in their lives to have these opportunities.  We can provide our services to individual young people or come into school and work with small groups.

 Direct Payments

Our services are available for parents/carers who may be seeking additional support / respite by using their Direct Payments to fund this.