Inspiring Families

The Inspiring Families Programme (IFP) is a ten-week programme for families where domestic abuse is an identified component and the families have chosen to stay together.

It is a programme that can strengthen and stabilise families and provides professionals with a robust framework to assess the parent’s behaviour; including coercive control, any disguised compliance, the level of current risk and the likelihood of future risk.

The programme also assesses the potential for change and the reduction of risk within the family or whether, indeed, the risk is too high or the potential for change too low to make working with the family a viable option.

The IFP is designed to be an accessible tool that will provide professionals with the evidence they need to make an assessment of the family and to identify the type and level of further intervention required.

The programme is delivered in separate groups of non-abusing and abusing parents. It provides participants with information and space to judge their own behaviour and make their own decisions about the future.

Referral criteria:

• The family is affected by domestic abuse (they do not need to be currently living together)               
• Both parents have the intention to stay together          
• The female partner can attend the women’s group sessions for 10 weeks
• The male partner can attend the men’s group for 10 weeks
• Both partners understand the programme and the commitment they will be making to attend every week for the duration of the programme              

Please also note the following:

• This programme is only suitable for Early Help and CIN plans and we cannot support CP plans at the moment
• It is not suitable for families who need interpreting support
• We are unable to provide a creche/childcare, please ensure families have access to this support before you refer
• The allocated worker or another professional will need to see the children every fortnight during the programme delivery