The WellFamily Service
| Date | 01 June 2005 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13619322200500015 |
| Published date | 01 June 2005 |
| Pages | 19-22 |
| Author | Rose de Paeztron |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
The WellFamily Service
Rose de Paeztron
Development Manager
Family Welfare Association
Focus on…
Introduction
The WellFamily worker first met Cathy after being
asked by the health visitor to make contact. The
health visitor’s concerns about the neglect of Cathy’s
three children, aged between two and six, led to the
family’s referral to social services for assessment, and
she asked the WellFamily worker to offer support to
Cathy through the process.
It seemed some practical help would be a good
place to begin: the worker and Cathy completed an
application together for money for a washing machine
for the family. By then, social services had completed
their initial assessment and the worker was also able to
engage with Cathy about her feelings and offer
emotional support. At this time, Cathy’spartner Joe
was around, though not much involved with the family
and not at all keen on outside agencies being involved
either. Although Cathy had agreed it would be a good
idea for the WellFamily worker to attend the case
conference with her, she was not able to be there on
the day; however Joe did attend. As a result of the
conference he was able to acknowledge his
responsibilities to his family and, while making the
plan, identified the WellFamily worker as someone he
would like to engage with. This was greeted positively
by everyone as the fear had been Joe would not be
willing to co-operate with the plan. The worker duly
began seeing Joe and also continued to work with the
whole family – helping to arrange for ongoing couple
counselling for Joe and Cathy via the SureStartteam,
for example, and liaising with the school regarding
concerns about the two older children. This example
of a WellFamily project shows the significance of the
worker’s role in engaging in a non-stigmatising way
with service users, the value of co-ordinating and
enabling communication between agencies and the
recognition of that significance by other professionals.
Background
Family Welfare Association’s WellFamily service was
first delivered in Hackney in 1996, in a primary care
setting. The need had been identified to encourage
and facilitate better health and wellbeing for people
who often had a set of complex needs at a fragile and
vulnerable stage of their lives. The WellFamily service
is readily accessible, non-stigmatising and available to
all, offering a single point of entryto deal with multiple
problems. The service provides flexible support,
advice and guidance at as early a stage as possible so as
to avoid more serious problems developing later.
Initially, funding was secured from the National
Lotteries Charities Boardto establish additional
services in other primarycaresettings. Research and
evaluation (see below) demonstrated that the service
worked equally well in urban and rural locations.
Service delivery is flexible and includes, as appropriate,
office-based appointments and home visiting.
Appointments may be with one or more members of
the family and are often offered over a number of
weeks. Sometimes the initial appointment will simply
lead to signposting to another local resource, which
could include assisting the service user to attend by
accompanying them to an appointment elsewhere. In
other cases, supportmay continue in a flexible way
over a number of weeks. Sometimes family members
will returnto the service at another milestone in their
development: knowing the service is accessible means
people arelikely to refer themselves back at an early
stage in any future problem they encounter and need
support to deal with.
In established WellFamily services workers will:
nprovide community and primary-care based
early support to adults, children and young
people to help them develop and maintain
better mental health
nhelp children and families meet key milestones
by providing them with supportat critical stages
The Mental Health Review Volume 10 Issue 2 June 2005 ©Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) 2005 19
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