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What is Early Help?

• Recognising when we may need support 
• Assessing need and planning to meet that need 
• Providing children and families with the right help at the right time 
• All services working together to help families help themselves. 

The Early Help Categories are:

Early Help is the extra support your family can get if you need it.  It may be that you want to prevent a problem, or change things for your family before the problem becomes more serious. 

Early Help is not a specific service or team.  It is an approach that brings together people from a range of services and teams who will work together with your whole family to help improve the situation for everyone. 

At Ivybridge Community College, we aim to support families at the earliest convenience in order to access support that can address all kinds of issues for example, from the categories listed above including parenting, school attendance, emotional wellbeing or behaviours.  It may be that you need Early help when one person in your family has a problem, as it often affects everyone else too.  You may be worrying about someone’s physical or mental health, a disability or special need, being a carer, domestic abuse, alcohol or drug misuse, housing, finances, harmful behaviour or involvement in crime. 

Our Early Help Coordinator can guide you through the Early Help process, give you more information and answer any questions you may have about the different services that are on offer to the whole family. 

To contact our Early Help Coordinator Mrs Brittin, please click here.

For further advice regarding Early Help, please find below a link to an Early Help information document by the Devon Children and Families Partnership.

How does Early Help work?

By identifying and building on your strengths as a family we can help and support you to find long term solutions to your issues, as well as developing your skills to help you manage any future challenges. 

You will have one main point of contact.  This could be someone you already have a good relationship with such as a teacher, youth worker or health visitor.  They will be known as your lead worker and they will help you access the services you need quickly and easily. 

The information you and your family provide will only be shared with the people who need to know about it, and only with your permission. 

You and your family will be central to drawing up your goals, and we won’t make any decisions without your involvement. 

An Early Help Assessment can help support you in a number of ways ranging from advice and guidance to more intensive family support.  It covers different areas to help identify need and plan to support. 

To contact our Early Help Coordinator Mrs Brittin, please click here.

For further advice regarding Early Help, please find below a link to an Early Help information document by the Devon Children and Families Partnership.