The CDP is a key supporter of Nottingham’s Early Intervention programme and is acting as the lead partner agency on five key projects:

DrugAware Award

Implementing the local ‘DrugAware Award’ will set a robust standard of excellence in drugs education and policy within schools and the community.

This will provide an identifiable brand that can be used to drive forward the standard of drugs and alcohol education in Nottingham City to:

• Encourage schools to reach above and beyond the Healthy Schools standard
• Raise the profile of drugs education for pupils, parents and the community
• Ensure effective screening of drug use and risks of drug use
• Ensure effective targeted interventions for those pupils assessed as ‘at risk’ through improved referral pathways to specialist services and through embedding targeted interventions within a school setting with appropriately trained staff
• Help parents to be more fully engaged (in both policy setting and drugs education)
• Increase partnership working with the school community, Neighbourhood Beat Team and Trading Standards
• Involve pupils in the City-wide drugs education policy setting
• Increase the skill base of key staff within schools

The project is being delivered through the NCC Healthy Schools Team in partnership with Catch 22 (Rainer Crime Concern).

Mentoring Scheme

A three-year pilot project to create a strategic mentoring approach for 360 young people who are 12 years of age and under with complex problems and ultimately to establish one of the UK’s top mentoring programmes.

This includes the development of a City-centre based ‘Mentoring Shop’ where potential mentors and mentees will have easy access to a wide range of support services and e-mentoring.

A similar scheme in the USA has significantly reduced drug use and crime and has improved family relationships.

The project is being delivered in Nottingham by SOVA mentoring , a national mentoring organisation with extensive experience of engaging and working with a broad range of mentors and mentees.

The project is always looking for new volunteer mentors; if interested please contact SOVA Nottingham on 0115 9003168 or by Email by clicking here.

Stronger Families Project

The work will involve developing a programme of focused and time limited group and individual sessions for children and young people of all ages and their nonabusing parent, which will support parents to avoid future abusive situations, help them to better support their child and crucially help the children and young people to understand and overcome problems they have as a result of those experiences, which are adversely affecting their present and future happiness and achievement.

A specialist service will be put in place to train and co-ordinate the contributions of a range of other agencies who will all work together around a particular family. This project will also complement the Sanctuary Initiative.

The project is being delivered through Women’s Aid, an organisation with extensive experience around Domestic Violence, its impacts, and interventions to help survivors of abuse.

Adult Offending Team (PPO) Family Intervention Project

This will help to reduce the risk of offending and entry into the criminal justice system by children in the families of persistent and prolific offenders (PPOs); to provide stability of accommodation and a reduction in substance misuse; to obtain training and employment for relevant family members and to increase the academic success of children in the family.

The project will work holistically and intensively with the families of adult PPOs who are either themselves parents or are older siblings living within or impacting upon an existing family unit in order to break the cycle of intergenerational offending and reduce the criminal influence that PPOs have upon the children with whom they have contact.

Intensive support of at least six months will be provided to the families, using where appropriate a ‘coercive’ model of engagement. The project is part of the broader Family Intervention Project (FIP) within Nottingham.

Young Citizens

The delivery of the Taking Care of Tyler program, a preventative and early intervention model aimed at engaging all children in Primary Schools in holistic learning activities aimed at reducing their likelihood of becoming engaged in crime in the future, either as a perpetrator or a victim.

By delivering the Taking Care of Tyler activities to all children in Nottingham over a three year period, NCCL aims to contribute towards closing the gap in performance and achievement in City schools.

Working with all children and providing them all with the key skills, knowledge and understanding that they need to be active citizens in their communities and to live within the law is key to an early intervention approach.

The project is being delivered through the National Centre for Citizenship and Law (NCCL) with activities taking place within the Galleries of Justice. If you are a school who would like to take part then please contact Kelsey Smulders at NCCL via email by clicking here.

Should you require any more information about any of these projects then please contact David Oakes, Strategy and Commissioning Officer Early Intervention.

For a broader understanding of the Early Intervention initiatives within Nottingham city then please visit the Early Intervention Page on the Nottingham City Council website by clicking here .