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Forward Together

The CBF’s Forward Together project connects families and professionals within the area and provides facilitated forums for the networks to identify local issues, support each other to overcome challenges, and to improve co-production and working practices. The regional networks are supported by the CBF and the Challenging Behaviour National Strategy Group (CBNSG) to create a platform to be able to feed in local issues, bring together work in other areas and feed into a national community of families and professionals with experience of supporting people with a severe learning disability.  

This 3-year project funds CBF resource to work in 3 regions (the Midlands, the Southeast and the Northwest) building on previous learning from regional work. The focus is on families and individuals with severe learning disabilities whose behaviour challenges. 

We are recruiting a part-time family carer coordinator in each area who will support the delivery of the project in their locality. The Forward Together project will develop a multi-stakeholder community of practice for each area, and this will involve facilitating two action focused meetings per year, sharing information, delivering existing CBF workshops and feeding into the national Challenging Behaviour National Strategy Group (CB-NSG) work.  

Connecting the Forward Together project with our existing network through the CBNSG aims to ensure local issues are highlighted at a national level and that regional networks can feed into national strategies and influence actions. As part of this work, the Forward Together project will also involve rolling out a series of projects connecting issues from the local networks into the national meetings.   

Project Aims 

  1. Build local partnerships to support increased engagement of families and service providers at a local level to share best practice and generate sustainable networks for future work.     
  1. Support national partnerships to escalate key issues and increase coordination of a national picture with which to effect change in policy and practice.     
  1. Increase engagement of families across our 4 key communities to ensure they have access to targeted information and support and are connected to local and national networks.   

Communities of Families  

The Forward Together Project aims to strengthen not only the new regional networks developed but our existing national networks and communications to improve access to information and support and opportunities to input families experience in these four areas.    

  • Early Intervention – Young families    
  • Transition – Young Adults moving between child and adult services.    
  • Families in crisis or at risk of crisis    
  • Sustainable Care – Adults and Older families    

Concentrating our communications and understanding our impact in relation to these four areas will help us to support families to plan for changes and transitions at all stages of life, preparing for the challenges ahead and taking preventative action to reduce poor outcomes and crisis that can occur when support and services fail to meet people’s needs. The regional networks will support training and support around these stages allowing families and stakeholders to understand and build confidence in providing co designed support and services focused on intervening early with the right support in the right place at the right time.    

To find out more about the Forward Together project, or if you work in one of the Forward Together regions and may be interested in being part of the regional networks and community of practice’ please email us at: 

Forwardtogether@thecbf.org.uk  

 

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