CB4ward: Family One

In the second part of our blog series, Juliet Snell tells us more about family one, her experience of working differently to best support them and promising results.

With The Red Hen Project as the ‘home’ organisation for our first experiment, a family volunteered itself to be ‘family one’. We began to listen more closely to this family’s experiences -of loss, health problems, cycles of crises, intervention and periods of stability. The first offer was just time. I listened quietly to one family member, watching always for their observations on strengths, hope, ambition or solutions.

These first conversations were unsettling for me. After 30 years working in the “system” I was used to the burden of having to “bring” solutions, to fix, to be the expert.

Now, I had to actively sit on my hands, bite my lip and just listen.

The family member, in turn, after their own three decades of service use (of every conceivable kind) was used to presenting the family in the worst possible light - surely that is how you qualify for help? I tried hard to listen for things that would tell me about the family’s assets - the things that made them laugh, gave them joy. How they recover from bad times. How they manage, get on, and raise their kids.

Slowly, we worked towards a plan. The family were told about a budget held within CB4ward to unblock barriers. Our assumptions about offering financial resource in this way were overturned - the family were nervous of this responsibility. Faced with a worker who had no “fix” to promote, only listening and calm presence, they felt unsure what to do next. Sensibly, they opted for some advice, convening a meeting with experts to seek guidance. With a plan forming, we used the budget to purchase support elements that otherwise would have been beyond reach. A little team around the family formed - one element of which (a sports club) would never have been part of a traditional care plan. Each of these elements has been an unequivocal success, both in the eyes of the family and the group who support them.

Emerging change

One year on, this family has not been “fixed”. But some important changes have happened. They describe themselves as more able to “respond” to the support on offer.

Their narrative about themselves and about each other has completely changed.

They walk more calmly and proactively into relationships with services (school, NHS) and they recover more rapidly from crisis.

“It's made me feel better and responsive to the help. [My] family is recognised as individuals and that not all families are the same. Instead of being told that this is what you need and being told what to do, having the space to think what you need and then choose what is best for you.” Family member

Less importantly to the family, but perhaps more headline-grabbing, the family have had no recourse to any NHS, safeguarding or blue light services for over a year, when such contacts were previously frequent and ongoing.

In our next blog I’ll share how we are learning from this work with family one.

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Juliet Snell is Associate Consultant at Fullscope and founder of Cambridge based consultancy, taproot.