Job opportunities at DVIP
Yuva Young Peoples Service Positions
“The Yuva service is our service for young people. We offer targeted programmes to young people aged 11 – 18 who are using abusive behaviours in close relationships to help them change and develop positive relationship skills. Alongside the programme for young people we also offer a support service to parents and partners of the young person and collaborate with a wide array of local agencies to support positive change for the young people we work with and their families.”
DVIP are advertising for a YUVA Young People’s Service Manager and Yuva Young People’s Service Administrator.
Closing date 7th December. See website for more details.
Filed under Job opportunities
Brainstorm – Think like a teenager!
Islington Community Theatre invites viewers on an exhilarating journey through the lives, bedrooms and brains of teenagers. This BBC iPlayer exclusive is one of five 30-minute theatre shorts from Live From Television Centre.
Brainstorm reveals the science behind adolescent brain development, drawing upon life experiences of the cast and made in collaboration with leading cognitive neuroscientist Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore. Created by one of the UK’s leading theatre companies making work with young people, this is a thrilling exploration of the most frustrating, chaotic and exhilarating changes that every teenager faces.
I was told about this play only this week and wish I’d known about it earlier. Screened on the BBC on 15th November, it is available to watch on iPlayer till 15th December. Created by the young people themselves it asks parents for greater understanding – and reminds us so much of our own turbulent teenage years!
Watch it, be wowed – and be prepared to cry!
You can see more of Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore in this TED talk about the neuroscience of the adolescent brain.
Filed under TV
Child to Parent Violence and the Coronation Street spin-off
As the Coronation Street story line featuring Simon’s abuse of his step-mum Leanne Battersby rolls on, Radio York featured child to parent abuse in the “Georgey Spanswick at Breakfast” show last week. For those not following the soap, there has been considerable exploration over the last months of the difficulties in the relationship, and things came to a head after an argument over the washing up when Leanne was knocked unconscious.
With three segments, (at 00.13, 01.08 and 02.07) Georgey, and reporter Sarah Irwin, interview “Kitty”, a parent who has experienced violence from her young son, and Sarah Hill, Director of York IDAS; Sandra Hiller of Family Lives; and Angela Whitlock, Parent Coach in Ripon. Continue reading
Filed under radio and video
The Care Act 2014: how can it support individuals experiencing child to parent violence?
Yesterday I attended a seminar organised by AVA, considering the interface between the Care Act 2014 and domestic violence, and what could be learnt about support for vulnerable victims of abuse: “The Care Act six months on …early lessons to keep vulnerable adults safe from domestic and sexual abuse.” As always with these things I had an interest in how this would apply in situations of child to parent violence, but there was a nice overlap too with my “proper job” in that some of the social work students I support and assess might be working within this legislation. Continue reading
Filed under conference report
CPV Mapping: Question, Questions, Questions!
There has been an amazing response to the launch of the map last week, locating specialist services for families experiencing child to parent violence, with some very lovely compliments – THANK YOU – and many comments and questions via twitter and email. For ease, I am going to combine them and try to answer as many as possible here.
The URL is a bit clunky. Is there a plan to make it easier to remember?
At the moment the project is hosted on a website designed to enable communities to network and support each other. Most of the groups are geographically based, though ours is a community of interest. We chose this platform because of convenience at the time, cost and the support offered. We would like the map to become a properly resourced resource, kept up to date and easily accessible. We would then move it to somewhere more appropriate and memorable.
What do the different colour “hexes” mean on the map?
Each “hex” represents a service. If you click on them you can learn more about the service offered. They are colour coded at the moment by the type of agency. This isn’t necessarily the most helpful way of coding them though, so it might be changed at some point.
Why only England and Wales?
A number of reasons for this. The way we have located services has been through a huge networking exercise. My own network covers England so we have been looking to exhaust possibilities here first. The Steering Group includes a representative from the Youth Justice Board, which covers England and Wales. In order to make the project manageable in the timescale we had to draw a line somewhere, and so decided on England and Wales. There is a different youth justice system in Scotland for instance, and we do not have the same “way in”. Ireland could indeed be included, as the Daphne RCPV project encompassed the work going on there, but again, time is a factor in this not being included. I know there are people investigating on my behalf though and hoping to send other links as soon as they can. Indeed, I would like to thank the many people who have passed on suggestions of services they know about, and enabled us to cover as much as we have.
Why isn’t the service I told you about included?
Sometimes agencies have decided not to be involved, perhaps because the service they provide is still at the early stages. Sometimes people have just not responded to emails and phone calls. There are lots of reasons for this and I appreciate that everyone is very busy. There is still time for more people to be included at any time. Please do keep sending suggestions, as it is good to know about the work that is going on.
Are you planning to include other types of service?
It would be lovely to be able to capture everything. This might include telephone support, peer mentoring, agencies offering support as part of a more general package, individual counsellors and counselling agencies, to name the types of help I know about. Time!
The map is very much a ‘work in progress’. Though this project is nearing the end, we hope that we will be able to find the resources to continue with it and to continue to build a picture of the help that is gradually developing for families experiencing violence and abuse from their children. And finally, do please let us know if you think it would be a useful resource for you, and in what way.
Filed under projects
The Map Goes Live!
For several years I have been living with the hope that it would be possible to map all the specialist provision around the country for families experiencing violence and abuse from their children. I suppose initially my reasoning was all a bit vague: I suspected there was more work going on than we knew about, but I rather hoped that it would be a way of connecting people and also make my life easier when people contacted me (as they did me and others on a regular basis) asking for help in knowing where to turn.
Over the course of the two years it’s taken to reach this point, the rationale has become more formalised, and a fantastic steering group has supported the work as it transformed into a “proper project” with money and everything. I am now 5 months in to what was originally envisaged as 6 months worth of work. The reality is that it will carry on for a few more months in order to chase up the remaining projects we know about and complete final reports, but the time has come to launch the map. If not now, when!
(screenshot only, see below to access the map)
The software package used at the moment, Community 21, is part of a separate project within Brighton University (CUPP). Using the map you will be able to locate a specialist service by area, or name; and to learn about the model of work offered, methods of referral and any evaluation that as taken place. You will see if anyone can refer or whether it is a service offered internally; any age criteria, and whether the project works with young people only, parents only or both.
So what is it for?
Well, this is the current thinking:
- The map will help families and practitioners looking for a service in their area.
- The map will enable agencies to network, whether in the development or coordination of services.
- The map will enable agencies and practitioners to locate projects which can offer training.
- The map will enable commissioners to understand the gaps in provision and to look at the development of services strategically.
- Other interested parties will have a fuller picture of what is going on.
What it won’t do:
- There is as yet no method of assessing standards of work or quality assurance. Those using the map should understand that it merely indicates the presence of a service and we cannot officially endorse any project.
- We have not as yet figured a way of including services that are offered in a different way, for example telephone support from national agencies.
- It does not yet include individual practitioners / counselors offering a service to families.
- It isn’t 100% comprehensive. At the moment it only covers England and Wales. I know there are services still not included!
How does it Work?
Simply follow this link to the page which shows our project. You will find “our map” and then some information about the project and the people involved. You can zoom in and out on the map to see different parts of England and Wales, and you can do some basic searches by the type and name of the service. Click on the different coloured ‘hexes’ to see a project in detail. The twitter feed @mapping_cpv is there too.
There is still some way to go. The next few months will be spent following up existing leads, and scoping new ones as always. Much of this work takes place through contacts passing on names of colleagues, so all contributions are very welcome. A big question remains as to how to keep the information up to date and relevant. This is particularly an issue when so many services face massive budget cuts or regular renewal of charitable funding.
But finally, we are interested in feedback. If you are able to take a moment to look at the map we would be pleased to hear any comments you have, especially:
- Would it be useful to you?
- In what way particularly?
- Can you immediately identify any issues or changes we could make?
- Can you suggest ways of building on what is already there?
- Do you have a service that is not yet included?
I cannot end this without a huge vote of thanks to the wonderful Steering Group, which comprises: Dr. Paula Wilcox from University of Brighton, Jo Sharpen of AVA, Dunston Patterson from the YJB, and Julia Worms of Respect. Regular updates will continue as the project completes and reports become available.
Filed under projects
The West Midlands Police response to CPV
Despite urging that we take steps to name and count incidents of child to parent violence, I am generally sceptical about the release of statistics from the police. (I’ve explained why previously here.) Nevertheless, the publication in the last week of figures from the West Midlands Police received widespread coverage in both local and national press, and is to be welcomed. Continue reading
Filed under news reports
Two new films from the APV project
The APV (Adolescent to Parent Violence Project) website has two new films on the home page, which were created to publicise and promote the research project and findings from Rachel Condry and Caroline Miles.
The first, Investigating Adolescent Violence towards Parents, charts the journey of the three year project from inception to publication of the Information Guide in conjunction with the Home Office. The second, Designing in Impact, looks at the importance of having an end goal from day one.
HOLES IN THE WALL 