Working with families
Family Plus
When parents are in drug and alcohol treatment. It can have a big knock-on effect for their families – especially for any children.
Our Family Plus service is about getting families early help. The Family Plus worker will work with the family and our Recovery Coordinator to provide a rounded package of support. We want to help you get the best possible outcomes for the children as well as at the same time supporting you, the parents, through the recovery journey.
The team offers a variety of support including:
- Support with routines and boundaries within the family home.
- Running groups and activities for families to spend positive time together.
Exploring challenging behaviour within children and looking at ways to deal with this - Support with building a relationship with Schools and/or Nurseries.
- Linking in with other services such as dentist, mental health support and routes to employment.
Included in the Family Plus offer is specialist one-to-one and group work provision for children and young people. This provision supports children and young people with emotional health and well-being as well as drug and alcohol awareness to prevent second generational substance misuse.
Early Help Hubs
The Early Help Hubs were set up by Leeds City Council in 2019 to support families and professionals working with families. They offer a single point of contact and offer advice, help and support. They work closely with service partners to ensure improved outcomes for children, families and communities in Leeds. Forward Leeds has specialist Substance Coordinators based at the city’s three Early Help Hubs. Parents/guardians can access informal support and if required, be referred to other relevant organisations, including sustained recovery options.
Our Early Help Hub Team is made up of:
Young Persons worker
Supports children and young people across the city whose substance and/or alcohol use is impacting on them and their families.
They deliver interventions, provide guidance and information to children and young people including brief interventions, harm reduction initiatives and help Children and Young People access appropriate support including supporting the transition into structured treatment into Forward Leeds when needed.
Adult worker
Supports adults in families impacted by substance and/or alcohol use across the city. They act as a first point of contact for the Early Help Hubs regarding guidance and support in relation to adults’ substance and/or alcohol use, providing expertise and knowledge across the Early Help Hubs in relation to the impact of alcohol and substance use in families.
They deliver interventions, provide guidance and information to parents including brief interventions, harm reduction initiatives and help them access appropriate support including supporting the transition into structured treatment into Forward Leeds when needed.
Workforce Development Worker
Works across the Early Help Hubs to upskill and enhance wider workforce understanding of families impacted by alcohol and substance use. They work across the partnership developing and delivering bespoke training to children and family services.
They also promote the Early Help Hubs Drug and Alcohol Team, through networking, producing, and disseminating publicity materials and working with media leads in Early Help Hubs and Forward Leeds to co-ordinate social media posts.
Restorative Practice
Forward Leeds uses a model called Restorative Practice that can help people rebuild their relationships.
All of us, at some point, go through times when our relationships with others become strained, difficult or completely breakdown.
When a person is dependent upon alcohol or other drugs, this can be quite common. It can also make it even tougher for everyone concerned to rebuild relationships.
Damaged relationships affect not only the person with problematic alcohol or drug use, but also their loved ones, partners and family members. But, if relationships can move forward in a positive way, people are more likely to succeed in treatment and in recovery.
You can read more about restorative practice on our webpage on Help to Rebuild Relationships
Additional Support
If you are affected by someone’s else’s substance use, Carers Leeds offers support to people affected by the drug and/or alcohol use of someone they know, whether that is a family member, a loved one or a friend. They refer to this group as ‘concerned others’. They provide information, advice and guidance on how to manage the impact of someone else’s substance use. This could be a one-off phone call or face-to-face session to resolve a specific query, or could involve up to six sessions of structured one-to-one support.