West Mercia Women’s Aid
Children and Young People Services

Children and Young People Services

Working with Children and Young People

WMWA provides support to children and young people who have been affected by domestic abuse. Our work has a strong focus on self-esteem, self-care and on understanding healthy relationships. This includes support for young people who are themselves experiencing abuse in their teen relationships.

We have the following services available across Herefordshire & Worcestershire which are run through our WMWA Children and Young People Services (CYP) team.  Please see below for services available in each location.

Helping Hands is for children aged 7-12. The group will help to increase children’s understanding of feeling safe and to explore and promote behaviours which will contribute to a safe environment. We will work to:

• Develop children’s levels of self-esteem and confidence
• Enable children to explore and express feelings and wishes
• Inform children of the right to feel safe at all times
• Increase children’s ability in safety planning
• Empower children to identify their own personal support network
• Explore how choice of behaviour can affect the feelings of others
• Identify healthy ways to manage conflict
• Understand that feelings are okay
• Express strong feelings without violence
• Practice non-violent problem solving skills

I need help

If you are a young person or parent/guardian looking for support for yourself or a loved one please contact our helpline team.

Referring to our services

If you are a practitioner or professional looking to refer someone to our services please complete our referral form.

The Children and Young People Recovery Toolkit is an evidenced based 8-week programme for any young person that has witnessed or experienced domestic abuse and are able to take part in a group. Children & Young People must not be living with domestic abuse any more to be able to safely attend. The aim of the group is to help children and young people cope and recover from the trauma that domestic abuse can cause. It is integrated in its approach using a combination of trauma – informed resilience focused work, specific trauma focused cognitive behavioural therapy and person–centred therapeutic principles.

I need help

If you are a young person or parent/guardian looking for support for yourself or a loved one please contact our helpline team.

Referring to our services

If you are a practitioner or professional looking to refer someone to our services please complete our referral form.

CRUSH is a structured group for young people that are affected by ANY form of domestic abuse whether it is witnessed, experienced or perpetrated and is suitable for both young men and young women. The CRUSH programme has been externally evaluated as effective in helping young people to:

• Increase their understanding of abusive relationships and give them support in ending an abusive relationship.
• Greater understanding of the impacts of domestic abuse on thoughts, feelings and relationships.
• Increased understanding of gender-based bullying.

CRUSH has been written and developed by West Mercia Women’s Aid.

I need help

If you are a young person or parent/guardian looking for support for yourself or a loved one please contact our helpline team.

Referring to our services

If you are a practitioner or professional looking to refer someone to our services please complete our referral form.

Our 1:1 support is for children and young people that are unable to attend a group for a specific reason or where an individual/focused approach is needed. We are also able to deliver ‘one off & bespoke’ safety sessions to children and young people attending group if this is needed to meet the needs of the child or young person. Our 1:1 support will include a needs assessment with the referred/referring parent/carer and young person; from this an individual support package will be created with a focus on
feelings/emotions, relationships and safety.

Bespoke support for school staff and front line workers

For children whose needs would be better met via support from a worker that they already have a relationship with; the CYP team can support professionals to complete direct work. This could include safety planning, feelings and self-esteem work and healthy relationships. We have specific resources that we can share with professionals and provide support to them directly. CYP also provide universal resources which can be readily accessed and downloaded on the WMWA website. For further information please contact the team.

Young Person’s Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (YPIDVAs)

Our Young Person’s Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (YPIDVAs) provide support to individual young people – aged 13-19 – who are currently experiencing domestic or teenage relationship abuse and who are considered high risk.

The YPIDVA will work alongside the young person and other professionals to create an individual safety and support plan, bringing a specialist understanding of the impact experiencing abuse can have on young people.

Our YPIDVA’s can provide advice and resources to professionals working with young people who are impacted by domestic abuse, and can support an identified lead professional to complete domestic abuse/healthy relationships work with
a young person if this better suits the needs of the individual. For further information please contact us at cyp@wmwa.org.uk.

I need help

If you are a young person or parent/guardian looking for support for yourself or a loved one please contact our helpline team.

Referring to our services

If you are a practitioner or professional looking to refer someone to our services please complete our referral form.

For children whose needs would be better met via support from a worker that they already have a relationship with; our Children & Young People’s team can support professionals to complete work directly. This could include safety planning, feelings and self-esteem work and healthy relationships. We have specific resources that we can share with professionals and cam provide support. For further information please contact us at cyp@wmwa.org.uk.

We can also provide universal resources which can be accessed here

I need help

If you are a young person or parent/guardian looking for support for yourself or a loved one please contact our helpline team.

Referring to our services

If you are a practitioner or professional looking to refer someone to our services please complete our referral form.