How can early intervention help?

Assessing your needs

One of the important ways we help families through early intervention is by using a simple, effective assessment of children's and families' needs. 

This helps us to work with you to identify the most effective ways to work with children and families to change their lives for the better. This is called the Early Help Assessment. This assessment is carried out by a professional already working with a child, young person or family - known as the lead professional.

Supporting your family

Children’s centres (pre-birth to school age)

We provide one-to-one support for families with children (from pre-birth up to 5) as well as providing support to access the children’s centre groups, parenting advice and guidance, help with finding and preparing for nursery, provisions such as 2-year funding, managing finances, volunteering, and adult learning. 

Find your nearest children centre.

School age children and above

This can involve one-to-one work with children aged 5 to 18 to support parents and the child with behavioural concerns or challenging behaviour. This includes; poor attendance at school, anti-social behaviour, the impact of parental substance misuse and/or parental mental health, and parental separation involving issues over contact. 

We can also advise and provide direct input to children and families where there are worries over self-harm, feelings of low self-worth, or child sexual exploitation (CSE) concerns.

Prevention and Youth Justice Service

Formerly the Youth Offending Service, this service involves direct work with the child and family in cases where early warning signs of offending and or anti-social behaviour are present.

The Prevention and Youth Justice Service (PYJS) works with children between 10 to 17 years old, who are at risk of becoming involved or are involved in offending behaviour.

Within our prevention remit, we work in partnership with other teams across Wokingham to identify children who present with risk factors that might lead them to offending or anti-social behaviour. We work with them and their families to prevent their behaviours escalating and in doing so, stopping them from entering the criminal justice system. We also deliver outreach work in the community and in schools, to educate children and adults around the risk factors and pathways to offending.

We have a dedicated prevention pathway for schools: the Exclusion Prevention Programme. This intervention is aimed at those children who are at risk of/have been suspended/permanently excluded from school due to behaviours of offending nature. The aim of the intervention is to both reduce the risk of further suspensions and the risk of the child entering the criminal justice system.

The PYJS also manages a number of formal and informal out of court programmes. These interventions are for children who have committed low level offences and who are diverted to our service by the police. We support these children to prevent their offending behaviour escalating and leading to need for Court intervention.

Additionally, the PYJS has statutory responsibility for managing and supervising children and young people who have been sentenced by the Court to Orders, both in the community and in custody. Our service supports the rehabilitation of children by preventing re-offending, reducing the use of custody, and keeping the public safe.

Parenting Courses

We offer different parenting courses. We will work with you to identify the right course for your family, but details of each course is below.

Incredible Years 1 to 4 years - The Incredible Years evidence-based early intervention parenting programmes focus on strengthening parenting competencies and fostering parent involvement in children’s pre-school experiences, to promote children’s social, and emotional skills and reduce conduct problems. Topics include helping their children feel loved and secure, encourage their child’s language, social, and emotional development, establish clear and predictable routines, handle separations and reunions and the use of positive discipline to manage misbehaviour.

Triple P Primary (primary aged children) - An 8-week course for parents of primary aged children who are interested in learning a variety of parenting skills.

Parents may be interested in promoting their children’s development and potential or they may have concerns about their children’s behaviour. As with the Triple P Teens, the programme involves five (2-hour) group sessions of up to 12 parents.

Parents actively participate in a range of exercises to build positive relationships with their children, to praise and encourage behaviours they like and want to see more of, to teach children new skills and problem solving strategies, to set and negotiate rules that are age appropriate for children and/or teenagers, to respond to misbehaviour immediately, consistently and decisively, to use discipline strategies that work and to take care of themselves as parents.

Then there are three (15 to 30 minute) individual (telephone) consultations to assist parents with independent problem solving while they are practicing the skills at home.

Triple P Teens - An 8-week course for parents of teenagers up to 16-years who are interested in learning a variety of parenting skills.

Parents may be interested in promoting their teenager’s development and potential or they may have concerns about their teenager’s behaviour. The programme involves five (2-hour) group sessions of up to 12 parents.

Parents actively participate in a range of exercises to learn about the influences on adolescent behaviour, setting specific goals, and using strategies to promote a teenager’s skills development, manage inappropriate behaviour, and teach emotional self-regulation.

Parents also learn how to plan around risk-taking behaviour and risky situations. Then there are three (15 to 30 minute) individual (telephone) consultations to assist parents with independent problem solving while they are practicing the skills at home.