The Cosmic interview

Carol Brown is Outreach Worker at COSMIC, a specialist children’s service operated by the Haringey Advisory Group on Alcohol (HAGA). HAGA is a voluntary organisation and is the main, specialist provider of alcohol treatment services across the borough.

COSMIC aims to provide information and support for children and families where parental alcohol and drug misuse is, or is potentially, having an impact on the children.

Alcohol Concern interviewed Carol about her role.

Firstly Carol, how is your post funded?

The post was originally funded by Haringey Children’s Fund between March 2002 and 2004, continuation funding has been agreed for a further two years until 2006.

What is it aiming to achieve?

The post aims to work with children and young people from the ages 0-16 who are affected by their parent’s substance misuse problems. The children’s fund requires me to focus on children from the ages of 5-13, specifically in the transitional stages, moving into school and from primary to secondary schools. The idea is to raise the issue of substance misuse in families from the child/young persons perspective – how they are affected and how they can get some help to deal with this.

How did you go about setting up?

When I was first appointed to this position I made contact with many of the services within Haringey that worked with children and young people. I visited and made contacts with organisations such as Young Carers, On Track, Pupil Referral Unit, YOT, Antenna, YMCA, Markfield Project, Red Gables, Step Aheads, and Space to find out what support they were offering children and young people. I was trying to find out whether the children and young people they were working with came from families where substance misuse was an issue. In cases where parents were users of either alcohol or drugs, I was hoping to set up links were they could refer children onto our service for a more specialised support around their parents or carers substance misuse. I found that agencies were not very forthcoming with referrals as some of their services offered similar support to ours (although not specifically around substance misuse). One of the most obvious places I could have access to children and young people where these problems might be an issue was through targeting schools. The way I managed to get into some of the schools was by shadowing some of the facilitators from Haringey’s Drugs Education Team (DET). The DET are commissioned by the LEA to deliver drugs education to secondary and primary schools within Haringey. When shadowing some of the workers I looked at how these sessions were being delivered, their content and what could I do to complement what schools already had. So after looking at what was being taught I decided to take the drugs education to another level by looking at the effects alcohol and other drugs have on children and families and by opening up the discussion on the types of help I could offer to individual children. I then began to offer this individual support in schools and at COSMIC.

You mentioned the problem of getting into schools. What were the difficulties or barriers?

The problem I faced getting into schools was that they were not familiar with our organisation, as I was coming from a voluntary agency that was not a part of the drugs education team. Many schools were on the defensive, saying they already had drugs education, even though I had explained to them that I would be looking at it from a different angle, taking interventions a step further from what drugs are and focusing on help/support for children and young people. They were also concerned about the costs. A lot of the heads of PSHE did not get back to me or return my calls - I had to keep on pursuing them.

How did you overcome these and which were you not able to overcome?

I managed to overcome the barriers in some schools by giving them information about HAGA/ COSMIC, highlighting that the service I was offering in the school would be free, giving support to teachers, explaining how substance misuse can have impact on children, etc. Some schools were pleased that we could offer this service free of charge. They also felt that it was important that children and young people knew where they could get help if they were living in families where substance misuse was a problem. They also recognized that after the lessons children and young people could have the opportunity to have individual one to one sessions. I believe that one of main reasons that I was not able to overcome the barriers in some schools was because they already had a very good working relationship with the DET and felt that fulfilled their pupils’ needs.

What advice would you give to others setting up projects?

One of the most important things to consider if you are trying to get into schools is to make a link with other projects that are up and running in schools already. If you are able to get a meeting face to face with the heads of PHSE and show them exactly what work you do and how you can support their school, your response will be a lot more positive.

How does this fit in with the school curriculum?

The non-statutory framework for personal, social and health education (PSHE) and citizenship provides relevant guidance. Under these guidelines I am able to offer children and young people who are affected by their parents’ substance misuse lessons, individual and group work sessions as part of the support service within schools.

You mentioned work with teachers and school nurses, parents groups, as well as with children in lessons. What do you actually do in schools?

I mainly go into schools doing lessons, raising awareness on the effects drugs and alcohol have on children and families; I also conduct one to one and group work sessions; lunchtime satellite services; after school clubs; teacher trainings sessions – around attitudes and looking for signs & child protection; I also conduct parenting group workshops through schools where parents can see and ask questions about what kinds of substance misuse education their children are getting.

Raising awareness amongst school staff – how you have actually done this?

An example would be one particular teachers’ awareness session that I conducted at St Mary’s Primary school, who had an inset day where I was able to come in and tell teachers about our organization, how we work with children around child protection, look at attitudes and stereotypes towards drugs and alcohol, etc.

And working with children at their different stages of development?

When teaching children and young people at school, the materials I use are in line with the statutory framework. So that means I cover:

KEY STAGE 1– 5, 6, 7, year olds

Knowledge and understanding

KEY STAGE 2 – 8, 9, 10 year olds

KEY STAGE 3– 11, 12, 13 year olds

KEY STAGE 4– 14, 15, 16 year olds

How do the children generally react?

I find that children and young people find these lessons interesting throughout the age ranges. Children in primary schools like to contribute by telling you about what they see in their homes sometimes this can be exaggerated. Secondary school children are not so forthcoming with information on their families and are much more cautious about what they tell you.

Seeing children individually – how does this come about?

During and after the lesson that I have conducted in schools, children will tend to refer themselves to me if they feel that they are affected by their parent’s substance misuse. Sometimes I would get referrals from the teachers or learning mentors; in this case I would then make an appointment with the child or young person to assess their situation and whether or not I am the appropriate person that they need to see. If I am not, I would refer them on to other agencies that are more appropriate to possibly help them - for example, Step Ahead, who work with children who have substance misuse problems themselves.

What about issues of parental consent?

My understanding of the Gillick† ruling is that any child aged 14 and over can have a service in their own right. However, professionals need to assess the young person to make sure they are responsible enough to take on board the advice and support that is being offered to them and act upon it. If professionals feel a young person is not responsible enough to take on board the information then the professional should seek parental consent.

How do you publicise your service?

Our outreach leaflet is aimed at children and young people who will be able to see the leaflet and refer themselves to our services, whether we go and see them at their choice of venue or at our premises. Also our free phone allows children and young people to have easy access to our services without having to worry about the cost, although we are not currently able to operate it 24 hours a day.

However I do believe that we need to make sure that parents have more details on the kind of service that we can offer to them and their children.

† The Gillick judgement established the principle that in the absence of an express statutory rule, all parental authority ‘yields to the child’s right to make his own decisions when he reaches a sufficient understanding and intelligence to be capable of making up his own mind on the matter requiring decision’. 

(Gillick v Wisbech and W Norfolk AHA [1985], 3 All ER 402 HL) http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/Confidentialityunder16