Invest early to make an impact

Two reports into early intervention in West Belfast help to make the case for the concept in government.

Across the Northern Ireland policy agenda, there is an increasing focus on the importance of early intervention programmes and initiatives to ensure improved outcomes for children and young people. The benefits of such a ‘prevention and early intervention’ approach have been well documented, particularly in today’s austere times where it is essential that limited resources are used effectively to ensure maximum impact.

Recently the National Children’s Bureau (NCB) Northern Ireland hosted a visit from world renowned Child Psychiatrist and expert in child trauma, Dr Bruce Perry. During the visit, Dr Perry helped NCB NI to launch two reports that focus on improving the health and well-being of children in the Colin area of West Belfast. The reports provide a detailed analysis of current provision for children, young people and their families, alongside recommendations for enhancing provision. They can be downloaded at www.ncb.org.uk/northernireland

Dr Perry also participated in a seminar on early years intervention, where he shared some of his knowledge.

Celine McStravick, Director of NCB Northern Ireland explains why it was beneficial for local practitioners working with children and young people, to have an insight into Dr Perry’s work: “Dr Perry is the Senior Fellow at the Child Trauma Academy www.childtrauma.org and Professor of Psychiatry at the Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago. He has been involved in numerous high profile cases across the USA, and indeed globally, where children have suffered severe trauma at an early age. Critically, Dr Perry’s work stresses the fundamental role of brain development in the early years, in particular 0-3, in the process of healthy social, emotional, physical and cognitive development.”

She continues: “Building the capacity of frontline practitioners is key to improving outcomes for children, so we hosted an expert seminar on early years interventions in association with the Public Health Agency, with Dr Perry as guest speaker. Over 200 practitioners attended, including teachers, social workers, health visitors and early years workers. Dr Perry shared from his experience of research and practice on what can be positively achieved when working with children and young people who have been adversely affected through early traumatic childhood experiences. The discussion examined how legislators, policy-makers and practitioners can ensure that there is targeted, early support for babies and families, the effects of which can positively influence later life potential.”

Celine adds: “We are encouraged at the renewed focus on early intervention from government departments across Northern Ireland, and in particular the announcement late last year from the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister that a major investment will be made in education and family support projects. We need to ensure that this investment is allocated in a structured and co-ordinated way across the region, with services based on the wealth of evidence currently available about ‘what works’. It is crucially important that these investments affect positive change for those most in need. Therefore any delivery plan should run hand in hand with an outcomes-based accountability monitoring system to ensure measurable impact.”

NCB NI
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73-75 Great Victoria Street
Belfast, BT2 7AF

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