Option 2 - Helping Families in Crisis

 

Site Index


Welcome to Option 2

 

About The Option 2 Intervention

 

Training and Consultancy Services

 

Option 2 in YOUR Area

 

The National Support Network

 

Reports, Reviews and Evaluation

 

The Option 2 Statistical Database

 

Useful Links

 

Publications

 


 

Welcome

 

 

to the Option 2

 

 

 Website!

 

 

Take a look at the links in the box on the left, most of the questions that people ask of us are answered here, how the process works, what clients think of it, what our outcomes are and how you can learn more.

 


 

 

News

 

 

 

 

 

Northumberland Option 2 is now up and running!

 

 

 

Gateshead Option 2 is now up and running!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Huge Congratulations to the NE!

 

 

 

 

 

(Please send me more details, service outlines and structures, pictures of the teams, contact details

 

 etc. ... and email addresses so that I can add you to the network mailing list)

 

 

 

 

Network members can have their own pages on this site.

 

Just get in touch with Mark in Cardiff.

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Regional Therapist Network

 Dave also tells us that they are re setting up an Option 2 therapist support network within the region.  Elaine (Changing Trax) and John (Families First) will facilitate this. 

Access the terms of reference here (.pdf)

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Research Findings

Dave also let us know that a summary of Donald Forrester's research on Option 2 and the DH evaluation of Families First has been published in the journal 'Findings'.  You can access this at:  

http://findings.org.uk/count/downloads/download.php?file=Forrester_D_3.txt  

More research findings here


Next Network Meeting

 

Dates: 4th & 5th March 2010

Venue: Government Office for the North East

(Newcastle - aka 'Party Capital of Europe' - lol)

 

 

Go to the network page to read more

 


OPTION 2 MODEL TRAINING

 

A THREE-DAY COURSE

 

Tuesday 1st, Wednesday 2nd & Thursday 3rd December 2009

Daily: 9:30 am – 4:30 pm

at

City Hall Cardiff

Click here for more info


New piece of O2 research being piloted - click here

New O2 statistical reporting database - click here


 

Congratulations Rhoda Emlyn-

 

Jones OBE!

 

In the Queens Birthday Honours List, June 2009, Rhoda Emlyn-Jones, Principal Officer for Substance Misuse Services, Cardiff and The Vale of Glamorgan, was awarded an OBE for services to disadvantaged people. Very many congratulations Rhoda, a well deserved award.

Rhoda said: “I was shocked when I found out, whoever nominated me didn’t breathe a word of it. It’s not just for me, it’s for everyone I have worked for and everyone I have worked with over the years.”

Congratulations have been flooding in from across the Globe: "Congratulations wonderful Rhoda - and how well deserved is this recognition!  You have inspired us all and set in motion a force for the good for families and individuals whom others give up on  -  it looks like those little seeds you have been planting are really taking root and flourishing!" 

With much love from your teams here in Cardiff and the Vale and from the Option 2 Network across the UK.


Families First, Middlesbrough,

Drug Team of the Year!

who were named Drug Team of the Year 2008 for their innovative and ground breaking work in helping children at risk due to parental substance misuse.

Team winners 2008

The Tackling Drugs Changing Lives Awards recognise individuals and teams who have really made a difference in their local community. The overall winners receive £10,000 for their project or organisation to spend on the prevention of drug misuse.

Run by Middlesbrough Council, Families First offers support to families with drug or alcohol difficulties where there is a real risk that children may be placed into care as a result of their parents' substance misuse.

The team has been described by the local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership as a 'groundbreaking service that goes to the heart of the drugs strategy in reaching and supporting families at risk'.

Research shows that family conflicts and drug and alcohol misuse have been significantly reduced: 77% of children now stay in their families, and 90% of families who stay together have maintained progress or exceeded goals at one-year follow up.



 

 

Option 2 working with the Police to tackle

 

Domestic Violence

 

***

 

Working with Resistance in Families Experiencing Violence:

 

Evidence based practice & local resources

 

Dr Amanda Bremble & DI Gary Bohun January 2009

 

 

A call is made every minute to the UK police reporting an incident of domestic abuse. DI Gary Bohun South Wales Police Service Public Protection Unit recognised that officers have little or no training in relation to domestic abuse (DA) after completing their initial training. Drawing on his own experience as a police officer he recognised how officers can become “conditioned” towards domestic abuse as a result of the number of incidents they deal with. DI Bohun approached the Option 2 Team to consider devising a 1-day training programme for Shift Supervising Officers. Read More

 


Upcoming Training


click here for more details


 

Rhoda Emlyn-Jones

 

Crowned Welsh

 

Woman of the year!

 

In a prestigious ceremony at the end of 2007 in Cardiff, Rhoda Emlyn-Jones, team leader for Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, and founder of Option 2 was crowned Welsh Woman of the Year by her peers from across industry, the media, arts and the caring professions in Wales.

 

Here she is (on the left) being presented with her award by Glenys Kinnock MEP.

 

Click here to read more,  

 

or what Paul Flynn MP has to say!

 


 

Network Meeting

 

Read Amanda's review of the meeting in Conwy here

 

 


 

What is Option 2?

 

Option 2 is a crisis intervention service for working with families in crisis, as described in ‘Preventing Breakdown'. Option 2 was brought to the UK by Rhoda Emlyn-Jones and developed in the UK by Cardiff Social Services. Launched in 2000, it quickly won the Community Care award for child protection.

 

Option 2 use a solution focussed and goal oriented model of intervention. We work with families where there are serious child protection concerns and professionals are considering the need to remove children from the family or place them on the child protection register. We focus on exploring people’s strengths and values, using those strengths and values to help people to develop motivation and set their own achievable, measurable goals. It has proved to be a particularly successful and powerful approach to working with families who are having difficulty. Click here to read more

 

The Option 2 projects have together created a supportive network, we communicate through our own mailing list and we meet several times a year. Go here to read more.

 

The different projects in this network use the model in a remarkable variety of different settings and with a wide variety of funding streams. In Middlesbrough Option 2 is part of a Families First Project, Norwich has Option 2 as part of the Family Assessment and Support Team, Conwy has Option 2 based in Conwy Care and Housing, whilst in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, Sheffield and Newcastle, Option 2 is part of children's and adults substance misuse services. Click here for more.

 

Beware of imitations:

All the projects on this website have had intensive training by us, in a well researched and evidenced model and use it as the core of their intervention. If it isn't mentioned on this site, it isn't an Option 2 project.

 

I hope that you find the website useful and informative. If you have any comments or questions, please get in touch with us.

 


“... I've had more happy times in the last six weeks than I had over the last three years.”

(S. mother in a review meeting)