Side-by-Side Consultancy

Consultancy Services from NSCAP

SIDE-BY-SIDE is the consultancy service for organizations and professionals working with children, adolescents and families with complex needs. We work with you to develop robust solutions to the complex challenges inherent in providing multi-agency services for vulnerable children, young people and for their parents or carers.

Developing Children
Children and adolescents with mental health, emotional or behavioural problems require a coherent and consistent response to the difficulties they struggle to manage and the circumstances in which their problems are manifested; whether this is at home, school, in residential or foster care or in specialist services. Their difficulties can escalate if effective care is not provided soon enough leading to persistent emotional and psychological problems, long-term disadvantage and increasingly expensive interventions.

Developing Professionals
Working with children and young people whose needs are complex, severe or enduring can be emotionally difficult. Reports and serious case reviews highlight how this can impact on the ability of individuals and services to work effectively. Our experience is that what helps in these circumstances is a focus on reflective practice, supervision and an in-depth understanding of child development. This approach can help break the escalating cycle of difficulties that occur for many children, their families and the professionals who care for them.

What does SIDE-BY-SIDE offer

In all circumstances we would hold an initial meeting to agree individually tailored services appropriate to local needs. The range of interventions we might offer include:

Consultative support for service reviews and care pathway developments especially where these span several organizations.
Organizational and professional consultation for problematic areas of work with children or families or following a serious case review.
Network consultation in support of the team-around-the-child where there are disputes or intractable difficulties.
Crisis intervention in teams or work situations where there is a breakdown in leadership, communication or mediation is required.
Individual and group supervision and reflective practice groups for all professions.
In-house and work-based training on a wide range of topics to suit your needs.

Who might benefit?

Our recent work with health and social care services includes:

Provision of an evidence-based report into the commissioning of psychological therapy for three looked-after children with attachment problems. This has led to a further request to work with local practitioners to help develop effective care pathways.
A request from commissioners and managers in a local authority area for help in meeting the needs of increasing numbers of looked-after children including difficulties of health and social care staff working together and the high number of placement breakdowns.
Consultation to a social care team struggling to meet the needs of a child placed in residential care out of district and unable to access appropriate treatment for emotional and behavioural problems locally.