eyewitness theatre company

'working effectively with resistant families' - programme objectives

A full-day drama-based awareness module offering a response to the Laming Report: Working with non Co-operative Families to safeguard Children.

Target audience: Managers and Practitioners from statutory and voluntary sector organizations.

AIM: To raise awareness and explore ways of overcoming the obstacles that prevent effective engagement with non-compliant families.

We focus on:

An awareness of practice guidance for working in ‘non co-operative’ situations
Information on strategies/tools to help effective engagement
An opportunity to practice these guidelines using ‘Forum Theatre’
An identification of the types of behaviour which prevent effective working
Scenarios and group discussion on some specific areas of non compliance / hostility and the impact on professionals
The focus on the child

"Workers become nervous and try to avoid working with aggressive clients and too often lose sight of the child by supporting the parent. Soon they feel helpless and live in fear of being undermined by the family dynamic”
ADULT CHILDREN. Friel and Friel.

The scenarios deal with a wide range of non co-operative families and environments. The scenarios set up a number of dilemmas and difficulties that professionals, in a spirit of 'shared responsibility', can resolve in the security of facilitated group discussion. How did the scenario make you feel? How should the professional have behaved in the situation? How might we have done it better? Inter agency communication and collaboration and effective ‘working together’ underpin the principles of our workshops.