TITLE OF DEVELOPING PRACTICE EXAMPLE
Stirling Community Learning & Development (CLD) – Thrive to Maximise programme
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Digitize Pathways in partnership with Tablet academy Scotland and Co.Lab Hub
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CONTEXT / BACKGROUND
Stirling Council’s Thrive to Maximise programme delivers multiple interventions targeted at the 6 priority family groups linked to national child poverty developments. These groups are
- Lone parents
- Parents who youngest child is under the age of one
- Parents with a disability (or who have a child with a disability)
- Parents from ethnic minority back ground
- Parents with three or more children
- Young parents under the age of 25
We are supporting parents who live in some of our most disadvantaged communities across Stirling.
WHAT WE DID
We have been working in these areas on a range of parental engagement and family learning initiatives and we know from that work that, with some further support, parents will be able to progress. Our programme aims to tackle poverty by supporting parents who are unemployed as well as supporting parents who are in work but who experience in work poverty.
The project allows us to extend access to the THRIVE to Keep Well programme, which aims to build the self-esteem and confidence of parents and support them to identify the triggers of stress in their lives and the resultant strategies to tackle these. THRIVE to Keep Well also supports participants to identify goals for positive life changes and introduces people to a range of other services which can support progression to further learning, volunteering and work.
HOW WE DID IT
Our project has adopted elements of the MAXIMISE (Edinburgh) model and as such, family support and money advice elements are key to the programme, along with key-worker employability support. We have also enhanced the range of community based adult learning interventions which help to build the skills of local people. For those in work, we deliver a range of in-work learning and training opportunities, which build the skills of employees, offers access to qualifications, whilst supporting employers to retain staff as well as supporting people to move to improved job situations with different employers. Overall the programme, led by the Learning and Employability team, allows clients to:
- Explore Career Choices
- Obtain qualifications and access a range of funded learning & employability opportunities
- Apply for college
- Search for jobs, build your CV, and apply for vacancies
- Access volunteering/work trials/work experience
Extending beyond this and by providing access to the THRIVE to Keep Well programme, individuals and families also:
- Learn how to manage anxiety and/or depression
- Learn how to make positive changes to improve overall wellbeing
- Improve their confidence, self-esteem, motivation and coping skills
- With the programme elements covering so many aspects, we also look to ensure that families have access to a range of individual supports as well.
Participants have access to designated Money, Debt and Benefit advisers who can:
- Complete Benefit Checks to ensure clients are receiving the right benefits to maximise their household income
- Complete Better off in Work calculations to highlight how their family situation could be improved by being in employment
- Assist with applications for benefits such as Universal Credit, Scottish Child Payment, Best Start Grant and many more
- Provide budgeting advice to clients
- Assist with debt situations and solutions on how to address these
We also provide bespoke help from a designated Family Support Worker. These workers work with families to help them:
- Learn about their child’s development and improve their relationship
- Improve their confidence as a parent through groups or 1:1 support
- Develop skills to manage parenting while in work or further learning
These elements combined have a huge impact on the lives of families within the Stirling area, giving them the opportunity to pull themselves out of poverty while also enhancing their personal and family health & wellbeing.
IMPACT / OUTCOMES
A number of families lives have been directly impacted for the better due to this programme. A list of key benefits can be found bellow:
- Participants developed CV’s, application forms, cover letters.
- Participants gained the confidence to search, apply for and take up jobs, overcoming challenges around interview confidence, balancing work/family time and identifying transferable skills
- Participants were given support to find solutions to the debt they were in and form long term solutions. This removed barriers they faced in regards to entering further education.
- Participants took part in a range of groups and 1:1 elements that reduced anxiety as result of family breakdowns, provided support to balance negative feels/poor mental health and provided volunteering opportunities to improve social connections.
- Participants gained support in accessing childcare, learning about child development, learning new parenting skills and developing new relationships with other families.
FEEDBACK
Impact Statements:
“I feel more confident in myself and I have seen a change in how I feel about my future. I got a job out of working with the project and this is something I have always wanted to do.”
“Knowing that the support is there when needed has made me able to make a more positive future and I am optimistic about my future career.”
Links
If you would like to join any of the challenge poverty week specific sessions on:
- Tuesday 5th October 2021 10-11am
- Tuesday 5th October 2021 7-8pm
- Thursday 7th October 2021 1-2pm
Please contact us via email.
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Stirling
Where?
Cowane Centre, Cowane Street, Stirling, UK
CONTACT PERSON
Ed Gibbon
CONTACT EMAIL
gibbone@stirling.gov.uk
