Rob – The LIFE Programme saved my family

Rob and his partner Rachel were well known to local agencies because there were serious concerns about their family. They rarely managed to pay their rent, their children were not attending school, Social and Health workers were concerned their advice was being ignored and the children were close to being taken into care.

"Looking back I can see how horrible it was, but at the time I had my head in the sand like an ostrich ignoring it all," said Rob. "I didn't answer the door in case it was a bailiff, I didn't answer the phone, I stopped seeing friends and family. There were so many problems that I couldn't see a way out."

The LIFE Programme – family led support

A social worker invited Rob and Rachel to try a new service called the LIFE Programme. Developed by the social enterprise Participle with Swindon Borough Council and local families, the LIFE Programme was being piloted by Swindon Borough Council and One Swindon, a local partnership with agencies including police, probation and the NHS.

Funded through the Community Budget, the LIFE Programme takes the approach that the intervention is a shared experience, with the family leading the changes that they want to make in their lives rather than having changes forced upon them. It is designed to help those families in chronic crisis who have previously received multiple interventions from a variety of agencies that may have failed to bring about sustainable change.

LIFE Team Assistant Manager, John Garbutt, explains: "Just looking at these problems in a different way has such an impact. We have empathy with people, we don’t judge them, and through this create a space where we are able to work with them to co-create change. There aren’t parents out there who think: ‘I’m not going to pay my rent, I’m not going to send my children to school, I’m going to allow my children to get into trouble.’ No one deliberately does that. The circumstances of their life dictate their behaviour, it’s generational and often they don’t see the capabilities that they already have that can help them to get out of it."

We built a relationship with our LIFE Team

"Rob and Rachel met when they were teenagers, they hadn’t had parents around for them as they were growing up and they now have two children themselves. They didn’t know how to do some quite simple things, such as using a washing machine or cooking a meal. The LIFE Team built a relationship with them and was then able to work with them to grow their capabilities so that they could get out of the situation they were trapped in. The way of working produces something very different from a worker, from an agency, a stranger to the family, just telling a family they have to do something."

After a period of time getting to know members of the LIFE Team the family chose the team members with whom they got on well to work with them towards changes they wanted to make in their lives. The LIFE Team then sat down with the family to set out priorities and plans and began to develop ways to tackle them.

Rob explains: "There was an endless list of problems and I couldn't see how to deal with them. But LIFE gave us the space to think about them and the skills to solve them. We started by looking at getting the kids to school. Half of the reason they didn't go to school was because I was always running late and didn't make the time to take them.

"Our LIFE team member came in and supported us from 8am with our routine, which we didn't really have. We could then see that we could get the school clothes ready the night before, get books ready and put the shoes somewhere we'd remember. Once we got that sorted the kids started going to school, we were all happier and we moved on to the next problem."

Learning simple things made a big difference

"After 16 months we'd sorted the whole list. There were no bailiffs at the door, no threats from social workers about taking the kids away, I was speaking to my extended family and friends. I was more confident, I'd learnt how to cook, how to do DIY. I felt relieved and safe. We didn't have the skills to get out of our problems then, but learning simple things made a big difference."

Having received support from LIFE, Rob set about using his skills to help friends and family with similar problems and now works as a volunteer teaching people to use computers.

Rob adds: "If we hadn't gone through the LIFE Programme the kids would be in care. We would have been evicted by now and left homeless because we had no contact with friends and family.

"But instead the kids go to school every day, Rachel has a full-time job, I'm planning to set up my own business painting and decorating and I'm helping other people like me. The majority of people want support, they just don't think they know how to do it for themselves. The simple things we learnt through the programme saved our family and show other people that they can turn their lives around like we have."

With such success for families and the wider community, the team are now working towards a future where no Swindon families are in chronic crisis. Participle are currently working with teams in Lewisham, Wigan and Leicestershire to launch the LIFE programme there.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•