Children and Young People Now magazine is dedicated to professionals working with children, young people and families. It’s annual CYP Now Awards recognise the very best practice amongst those professionals – and we’re delighted that two of our project have made it to the finals.
This year there were over 600 entries, and four Spurgeons projects were nominated: BeLeave, Norwich Connect, Brit House Dads Visits at HMP Norwich and Invisible Walls at HMP Winchester. Of these, Norwich Connect and BeLeave have both been shortlisted for the Early Intervention Award which will be presented at a virtual ceremony in just two weeks time.
The Early Intervention Award recognises work that identifies and responds to needs at an early stage; this might involve issues such as missed education, health outcomes, crime or substance abuse. It celebrates work that prevents these needs being carried from one generation to another.
BeLeave is a Birmingham-based Spurgeons service set up to support girls and young women at risk of gang-related crime and working with both them and their families.
The girls and young women may be at risk of gang involvement themselves or be impacted by the involvement of someone close to them. By helping these girls and young women to explore their relationships, their resilience and aspirations, BeLeave empowers them to spur themselves on towards a brighter future.
For Spurgeons Norwich Connect, the early intervention is centred on domestic abuse. Here, the child may be witnessing harm towards a parent or sibling or be the subject of it themselves. They might sometimes be a perpetrator of domestic abuse within their family. The service works with each scenario, no matter the family set-up or their intentions for the future. Norwich Connect works with family members across the generations both individually and together, equipping them with tools and skills specific to their situation, and empowering them to see these and their own individual strengths to break the cycle of violence.
To learn more about the BeLeave project, click here.
To learn more about Norwich Connect, click here.
If you’d like to find out more about the awards ceremony on 4th March and view the proceedings which this year are online from 4pm, visit the CYP Now Awards website.
