Home can mean many things to many people, but one thing a home should provide is a feeling of safety.
Safety creates the foundation for good health and wellbeing. Sadly, many children are growing up in environments that are just not conducive to good mental health, which is perhaps why this year’s theme for Children’s Mental Health Week is ‘This is My Place’ – a way in which we can explore the importance of place and belonging when it comes to children and young people.
At Phoenix Futures, we provide two specialist family residential services that support families affected by drugs and alcohol. The National Specialist Family Service in Sheffield and Harper House in Saltcoats, Scotland. Parents and pregnant women work with us on their own recovery and we offer specialist support for children to address their own trauma, wellbeing and personal development.
For some families, treatment alone isn’t enough to keep them together. That’s why our services support the whole family. While parents take part in drug and alcohol treatment, parenting coaching and life-skills sessions on site, their children are cared for in our registered nursery. School-age children up to 10 are supported to attend local schools. We also work closely with local authorities, social workers and health visitors to ensure families receive the joined-up support they need.
We offer a comfortable, homely environment, close to parks and shops, so around their own therapy, parents are able to put routine back into family life, getting the children up for breakfast, taking them to school or nursery, playing outdoors in our dedicated play area with them and taking part in organised activities and events.
Both services also support another key aspect of family recovery, reconciliation. For parents who have been separated from their children we can provide an opportunity to re-connect and start re-building bonds and trust.
The outcomes of this kind of approach are well documented using Scottish Government’s SHANARRI model (safe, healthy, achieving, respected, responsible and included) we have seen some fantastic outcomes for the children staying at Harper House.
Children felt significantly more secure and protected (34% gain); they enjoyed health related gains (33% gain); they achieved their personalised goals (34% gain) and they felt included in the community and family unit (34% gain).
With these gains, children’s mental health is greatly improved, alongside their parents’ mental health and parenting skills, combining to create sustainable recovery for the family and breaking the cycle of trauma to create lasting change across generations.
The positive impact of our family services extends beyond that of the immediate family. Our 2023 social value report on the impact of our Sheffield family service found that just over £25m of social value was gained for public services.
We also know that families leave our services and maintain their recovery, keeping their family together. Our 2013 SROI report found that 70% of families were still together up to 4 years post treatment.
Every child should have a safe home that allows children to be children again and help parents become the parents they always wanted to be.
To find out more about referring yourself or someone you’re working with into one of our national family services, contact [javascript protected email address]
