FICS & Outreach services

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Our FICS & Outreach service is a free service for families that need support navigating the complex SEND, Mental Health, Education, Housing and Social Care systems. 

We have a multidisciplinary team that consists of psychologists, therapists, social workers, teachers, family wraparound co-ordinators and skilled mentors who are specifically trained to work with young people and their families to support their social and emotional skills and wellbeing. 

Our Family Wraparound Co-ordinators are staff that are specially trained to support parents and carers to navigate the complex special educational needs systems and help to identify need and signpost to organisations already in place to support with different aspects that can impact on daily life, such as; Housing, Benefits, Education, Financial, Social Care and Health. Their role is to co-ordinate and link services together to ensure a true multiagency approach is adopted around the family to enable robust support and prevention of crisis. 

Our mentors are both paid staff and volunteers who work alongside their young person and their parents/ carers, supporting and encouraging them to best reach their potential, a successful post-16 destination and a positive pathway into their future. 

Some families have both a Family Wraparound Co-ordinator and a Mentor (sometimes multiple mentors for different members of the family if required). 

Who can refer to our outreach service? 

• Families can self-refer (The service is free) 
• CAMHS
• Social Care
• Schools 
• Other services 

The team deliver 1:1 intervention’s, bespoke to each individual young person whilst also providing crucial wraparound support for their families. By assisting and befriending families Great Minds Together are able to build relationships with people who may otherwise struggle to access or engage with services, including those living in areas of high deprivation and poverty and families involved with children’s social care. As well as signposting to statutory, public and community services, our Great Minds Together Wraparound Co-ordinators work closely with services, organisations and community groups in order to coordinate available support for young people, ensuring consistent and appropriate information sharing with the involvement of and consent of the young person (where appropriate), with a plan focused around their individual aspirations. 

The ‘Great Minds intervention programme’ is a multi-model approach bespoke to the needs of the individual. It is dynamic and flexible and can consists of: 

• Growth Mindset programme (1:1 intervention)
• Cognitive behavioural based therapies (where appropriate)
• CPD certifications for young people that are not likely to achieve academic grades (Visual online learning certifications with mentor support)
• Assistance into work-based learning experiences
• Practical and emotional wraparound support for the young person’s family
• Training and support for key professionals that work with the young person in order to help them understand how to best support the young person and their family, in order to promote better outcomes.
• Therapy - we have different types of therapy available dependant on need 

Families do not pay for this service, it will always be free for parents, carers and young people. We have a number of funding streams, and some local authorities and/or schools can commission our Outreach programme for their families 

Our interventions for young people with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) and/or SEMH (Social, Emotional and Mental Health) needs are bespoke to every young person. The young people can also access a large number of CPD courses as part of our intervention programs to increase their personal and/or professional development and self confidence. This is usually good for young people who are struggling to engage in the national curriculum or may not be able to complete enough GCSE’s to access further education. 

(Opportunities, Pathways & Training Inclusive Of Neurodiversity & SEND) 

We have an OPTIONS Programme which is also free to young people and their families. This is an evidence based dynamic programme to help young people increase their confidence and has proven to help increase attainment and engagement in more formal education settings. This can be delivered in the home, community or school depending on what is right for the young person. 

In some schools we are able to set up a nurture hub for students that may be struggling with the environment, and here we are able to triage them and ensure they (and their families) have the relevant support they need around them. All of our interventions come with the option of our free wraparound support service for families. This is to ensure that services are integrated and there is effective sharing of information across services to schools. We can also provide the OPTIONS Programme for more than one student within a setting. 

The OPTIONS Programme is free for young people and their families. School's and Local Authorities can commission this programme individually and the costings for this are bespoke and based on need and budget, as all settings and services are different. 

Our aim is to ensure these programs are cost effective and not extensive due to available funds being low (or non-existent) in these areas across the country. Depending on the locality, there may also be other funding available in order for us to provide these services to some low income schools for free.