Europeace Youth Ltd
‘Vulnerable Children and Families’
Brian De Lord - CEO
21/22nd March 2013 – Team Teach Conference
Roles of Brian De Lord










English and Drama teacher
Teacher I/C of Sanctuary Unit
Senior Neighbourhood Youth and Community Worker
Photography tutor – Adult Education
Teacher in charge of EBD Students
School Counselor
Senior Project worker
University Lecturer
Chief Executive
Head Teacher
History of PPP
 Southall Riots
 Small Fragmented Local Authority Response
 Expansion of Services in West London
Educational and multi-disciplinary support for children, families, and
communities – creation of a pedagogy – the Framework
 Registered Not-for-Profit Social Enterprise
 Ofsted registered Independent school
 International work and partnerships
The Range of PPP Interventions:
 Teaching and learning – Ofsted Registered School
 Curriculum innovation – RSA Curriculum
 Therapeutic support; 1:1, group therapy, family therapy
 Vocational Education
 Community Support
 Advocacy
 Mentoring support – volunteers, families.
 Residentials
The Clients:
 Vulnerable young children, their families and their
communities.
 Young refugees, new arrivals, migrants and
unaccompanied foreign minors
 NEETS, youth offenders, prisoners and their families
The Training:
Mentoring, Supervision, Group work, working with
Families, building and maintaining networks, NonOppressive Practice, Europeace Youth Framework,
21st Learning Characteristics & Partnership working.
The PPP Projects
















Europeace – Youth in Action
Breaking the Cycle of Violence - Daphne
European Dimension – EC Freedom, Security & Justice, Juvenile Gangs in the UK
Mental health needs for Young offenders – Daphne II
E-Learning for All – e-learning for vulnerable learners.
Residentials – Children in Need
Anti- Guns, Gangs & Knives – Home Office funded
ITACA – EC Fundamental Rights & Citizenship, Juvenile gangs in Europe & S.
America
Creating spaces of Experience – Grundtvig, Emotional learning blocks
Vocational Footprints – Leonardo, Making vocational education sustainable
Exploring the Legacy of Oppression - Grundtvig
Youth in Focus – Big Lottery, with Action Acton
West London Focus – Skills Funding Agency, with CfBT
Engaged in Education – DfE, with Catch 22
Teaching Trainers for Migrants & Roma – Grundtvig
Net for U – EC Freedom, Security & justice, Unaccompanied Foreign minors
Home Office Project
 Targeted at young people in danger of becoming
involved in gang activity
 Partnership with Ealing Youth & Connexions Service
and Diagrama UK
 Recruit mentors with experience of gang activity
 Train them in mentoring skills & attachment theory
Assessment and identification
Children who

have experienced and have carried out random acts of violence or public
humiliation

have experienced and have made use of terror techniques such as bullying,
threats or assault

are both victim and the perpetrator of aggressive behaviour

are unable to demonstrate signs of empathy with their victims

are unable to express emotions or show signs of their own vulnerability

feel an inappropriate level of debt, either emotional or financial, to family or
friends

have extreme reactions to outside challenges and swing between being calm
and traumatised

find it hard to reconcile conflicting feelings of love and hate

are unable to develop emotional defences against experiences of shame and
humiliation about gang culture

experience or act out violence as a necessary form of self preservation
Strategies to combat the lure of gang culture
Create a safe environment

Ensure someone is always available/ Work closely with the family/ Work
collaboratively
Develop and sustain a trusting relationship

Encourage an initially dependant relationship/ Establish a nurturing
relationship/ Be accessible at all times and engage consistently/ Demonstrate
and model empathy/ Listen actively
Teach emotional awareness

Advance emotional learning by encouraging self reflection, empathy and
accepting responsibility/ Demonstrate honesty, humility, humour and
humanity/ Understand and explore the source of violent feelings/ Raise
awareness of negative patterns of behaviour
Find strategies for coping with frustration

Demonstrate and develop language to replace violence as expression of
emotions/ Encourage communication/ Avoid punishment and reward strategies
but raise awareness of social norms and boundaries
Develop viable strategies for sustainable change

Through individual and group mentoring raise awareness and
acknowledgement of negative patterns of behaviour/ Help develop a ‘shame
shield’ by exploring the concept and consequences of shame/ Explore positive
life changes and plans for the future/ Support family members to ensure that
changes are sustainable
8 Essentials for Combating Gang Crime
1.
Nurture; a nurturing relationship is the key to rebuilding a young person’s self confidence and
2.
Empathy and integrity; Mentoring is the best way of tackling gang related behaviour in young
3.
Family work; supporting parents properly is absolutely key to helping young people move away
4.
Community; working with young people in isolation will have limited success if the entrenched
5.
6.
Mental health; must be taken into account in any strategy that deals with their behaviour
Legacy of oppression; PPP believe that the legacy of oppression, of any form and to any
7.
Specific Learning Difficulties; At least 60 % of young people involved in serious crime have
8.
Remain optimistic;
ability to positively negotiate their environment. Initiatives taking place around the country to deal
with gangs and youth crime are valuable but can be improved by including nurture and attachment
learning
people, however it was stressed that mentoring must at all times be honest
from the influences of gang culture.
problems within their wider community are not properly taken into account.
community, must be adequately understood and explored when dealing with young people who are
involved in gang crime
specific learning difficulties
gang crime among young people is extremely complex, emotive and
causes immeasurable suffering for the people who are involved. However in London, of the 1.8million
young people, less than 1% is involved in crime.
The problem must not be ignored or over-exaggerated, but kept in perspective.
Staff
 Self – Aware
 Vulnerable
 Humble
 Nurturing
 Creative
 Curious
 Courage
 Experimentation
 Focused on exploring potential rather than mapping
limitations
Framework Introduction
The framework can be broken down into the
following;





The practices
The qualities
The theories
The application
The environment
The Practices
Reflexive Practice:
 The ability to analyse one’s own practice against a variety of benchmarking frameworks.
This would build connections with: emotional literacy, self-awareness, motivation,
systemic influences including parental, cultural, societal, economic etc.
There are two aspects of Reflexive Practice worth highlighting:
Non-Oppressive Practice:
 the use of relevant theories & concepts to actively expose and transform prejudice both in
ourselves & others.
Inter-Disciplinary Practice:
 the ability to use a variety of professional disciplines in thinking & behaviour to enable
the service to become more accessible.
Deliberate Practice:
 The ability to step out of our practitioner comfort zones and experiment with new
interventions and theories.
Human Qualities












4 Hs; Honesty, Humanity, Humour, Humility
Integrity
Trust
Accurate Empathy
Respect
Care
Curiosity
Courage and Risk taking
Loyalty
Hope
Love
Resilience
The Qualities - Process












Honesty
Humanity
Humour
Humility
Integrity
Trust
Accurate Empathy
Respect
Care
Hope
Love
Resilience
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Deceitfulness
Insularity
Superficiality
Arrogance
Prejudice
Insecurity
Identification
Fear
Defeatism
Judgemental
Defensiveness
The qualities, generally taken for granted, cannot develop without
actively exploring the oppositional nature of the conflicts listed above.
The Theories
 Attachment - The importance of a positive significant relationship



between child and carer.
Attunement - The Wave Trust; Emotional trigger for violence.
Reparenting / Empowerment - Do vulnerable children need a reparenting experience or empowering? Perhaps both?
Neurology – Discoveries around Brain function, and The impact of
oppression/oppressing on physical brain growth.
 Education / Learning Styles - Appropriate curriculum, accelerated
learning, learning power.
 Adult and Community Education - Capacity building for voluntary
/ community groups and individuals. e.g. Peer Activists, Roma Assistant
Teachers, training prisoners as mentors.
Theories continued…













Person-Centred
Psychodynamic
Cognitive Behavioural
Multi-Cultural Therapy
Gender Continuum
Cultural Identity Theory
Gang Culture
Language and Communication Difficulties
Specific Learning Difficulties e.g. dyslexia, ADHD etc…
Partnership / Networking
Individualism / Collectivism
Importance of Context i.e. Families and Communities
21st Century Learning Characteristics
This is not an exhaustive list of the possibilities and should be used when appropriate.
Which of these theories are oppositional and which are collaborative?
The Application











Experience / practice
Training
Self learning
Peer group learning
Professional Boundaries
Risk Management
Supervision
Team Building
Management
Partnership
Evaluation
These facilitate the relationship between the other three, and contribute to the
quality of service. How do we navigate the conflicting experiences we have
during this process?
The Environment
 Partnership/Networking
 Collaboration not Manipulation
 Service delivery structure organised around the
needs of children, families and accessibility.
 Target Setting
 The variation in socio-political contexts across
Europe
 The Media
 Social capital
How do we use these concepts within the contexts of: the individual, the family, the
wider community, the national and international communities, in partnership with
other statutory and voluntary agencies?
Without a supportive environment most innovation will eventually retreat into habitual
behaviour.
Summary
It is a model that emphasises the ‘Why’ and ‘How’ rather than the ‘What’. We feel that an enormous
amount of ideas are generated around different types of interventions in an effort to initiate changes of
behaviour in this client group. An equal focus on our motives and devising more effective ways of
delivering services would generate greater success.
The model is based on a foundation of three practices:
 Reflexive Practice: The ability to consider a variety of influences in decision making, including
personal history.
 Non-oppressive Practice: being able to approach all relationships with an awareness of possible
prejudices.
 Multi-Disciplinary Practice: The ability to think and act professionally in a variety of disciplines.

The model then emphasises the importance of human qualities, such as Honesty, Integrity, Trust and
Resilience, that are critical to service delivery and yet not the focus of any practitioner or policy maker
training.

Theories devised by academics, researchers and practitioners around the subject of children and
families also deserve consideration. Theories such as attachment, attunement and brain development
should shape the delivery of services.

The model focuses on the application of the above, underlining aspects such as evaluation, training
and professional supervision.

Finally, the model underlines the importance of appropriate service delivery structures and other
contextual influences to ensure effective outcomes for vulnerable children & families.
Implications for Individuals
 Practitioners have to be emotionally literate.
 They need to respond rather than react.
 They need to have a wider knowledge base than
their professional role suggests.
 They need to actively cultivate human qualities
and demonstrate them within professional
boundaries.
Implications for Individuals (2)
 They need to understand the benefits of
working in a non-oppressive manner.
 They need to feel confident about exposing
their vulnerability around inherent prejudice.
 Some of them need to aspire to become a new
type of professional – the multi-skilled
practitioner.
 They need to be responsible risk takers.
Implications for Organisations
 What would an emotionally literate organisation look like?
 Provide access to knowledge, training and structures that would
support the practitioners.
 Create a work environment that is sensitive to practitioner
vulnerability and insecurity yet still insists on personal &
professional development.
 Create a training structure that produces the multi-skilled
professional.
 Create ways of bench-marking the new cross-disciplinary
competencies.
 Manage staff against a firm theoretical and practical model.
Implications for Policy Makers
 Create service delivery structures that incorporate the
multi-skilled professional into teams supported by other
practitioners that may well be specialists.
 Create networks for collaborative partnership work to
evolve, whilst having integration as an ultimate goal.
 Investing in specific types of training to support the new
structures, philosophies, theories, and practices.
 Highlight the differences and relationships between targets
and Key Performance Indicators, in order that it is the work
that is the focus, rather than the diversion of meeting
targets.
Quote
"I feel with some passion that what we truly are is private, and
almost infinitely complex, and ambiguous, and both external and
internal, and double- or triple- or multiply natured, and largely
mysterious even to ourselves; and furthermore that what we are is
only part of us, because identity, unlike "identity", must include
what we do. And I think that to find oneself and every aspect of
this complexity reduced in the public mind to one property that
apparently subsumes all the rest ("gay", "black", "Muslim",
whatever) is to be the victim of a piece of extraordinary
intellectual vulgarity."
Phillip Pullman
The Future….
 Europeace Youth Org
 Double Helix
Client Group
Schools – Complementary/
Alternative
Post 16 Services – Further
Education Colleges
Vocational Centres
Refugees & New Arrivals
Youth Offending/YOIs
Fostering & Adoption
Services
NEETS
Prison/ers
Long Term Unemployed
Local & National
Education/Health/Social
Services
Europeace Youth
Assessments:
Educational
Therapeutic
In conjunction with
Family/Community and
other Agencies Involved.
Negotiate Service Response
E. P. Y.
Referrer
Student
Family
Key worker
Employer/Voluntee
r/Community
Mentor
Choose Appropriate
Menu for the Student
Individual, Family &
Community Assessment,
Engagement &
Therapeutic Support
Teaching & Learning
Qualification
E-Learning
Mentoring
Advocacy
• Using the wider existing network
• Review & Response of initial Assessments (3 per
Yr)
Implementation of the Menu
Employers:
Training
Participating
Progression
Work Experience
Research
Interviews
Shadowing
Colleges &
Universities
Progression
Resources – Source
of mentors
Prisons
Progression
Resources – Source
of mentors
Wider Network:
Tried and Tested
Collaborations
National
Organisations
Consultants
NGOs and
Community Groups
Output
Key worker
Employer/Voluntee
r/Community
Mentor
Supporting 60 Children/ Young
People/ Adults
Transition to Further Education,
Appropriate courses (including devising
them) Employability ,Higher Education
or Training ,
Underpinning this……
Methodology – Europeace
Framework
Training and Supporting of Staff &
Volunteers
Creating and maintenance of Networks
Devising new methods and interventions
Double Helix
Double Helix is a newly set up not-for-profit company,
designed to work in close collaboration with its sister
charity, ‘Europeace Youth’ (EPY). Whilst EPY will focus
on delivering innovative and transformational services
to vulnerable young people and their families, across
the UK & Europe, Double Helix will design,
manufacture and market products that will be used by
practitioners and students connected to EPY and other
organizations working with vulnerable client groups.
Examples of DH Products…
 Life Double Helix
 Learning Double Helix
 Oppression Double Helix
 The Triangle of Interaction
 I’m a Client: Get me out of Here
Thank you very much and please stay in touch…
Brian De Lord – CEO – Europeace Youth
Bdelord@europeaceyouth.org