Children’s Partnership Board Learning Events: Impacts of the Pandemic
On 13th and 28th July, the Children’s Partnership Board, in conjunction with the Essex Partners Board, held two learning events on the impact of the pandemic on children, young people and families and on multi-agency working and service provision. These events brought together a wide range of insight from across the children’s system from those who had worked on a strategic level to coordinate the response and on the front line to manage the immediate effects. The voice of children and young people featured strongly. Insight was shared from the ‘We’re in this too’ project which gave video cameras to young people to capture their lived experiences of the pandemic, from Care Leavers, from young people who attended virtual provision run by the Youth Service, from young people and families who attended holiday provision run by Active Essex, and from students at the University of Essex who shared findings from their ‘challenge project’ research.
Attendees at the events were encouraged to participate in a conversation about the information shared and to identify what they felt were the most important priority areas of focus for the system as we move into recovery, and what learning they felt should be taken forward about how the system pulled together to respond to the challenge and to adapt services in response. Some of the key themes identified were:
- Emotional health and wellbeing impact on children and young people – planning for this in on-going service provision
- The importance of looking after staff wellbeing and being aware of the stresses they have been dealing with during this time
- Maximising on the benefits of advances in online engagement while also safely reintroducing face to face contact to counteract the disadvantages of operating virtually
- The importance of listening to children, young people, and families in everything we do
- How we can continue to pull together around the potential long-term impacts of the pandemic to help young people to have a brighter future and not lose faith in the opportunities available to them
The Children’s Partnership Board will be having a development session on 14th October when it will be considering the insight from these events and how this can be incorporated into its work programme for next year which sits under the framework of the Children and Young People’s Plan.
Presentations from the Learning Events can be viewed below:
The impact of the pandemic on children and young people in Essex – insight from across the system - 13th July
Impacts of Covid-19 on Children and Young People: National insight and research
Poppy Reece presents insight and research on the impacts of Covid-19 on children and young people:
Covid impact on service demand – a view from the Essex Child and Family Wellbeing Service
Richard Comerford, Managing Director of the Essex Child and Family Wellbeing Service presents on the impact of Covid-19 on service demand:
Impact on Parental Mental Health
Leila Francis, Designated Nurse, Safeguarding Children at Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group, presents on the impact of Covid-19 on Parental Mental Health:
Emotional Wellbeing in Schools
Stephen Whitfield, Strategy Lead for Social, Emotional and Mental Health and Senior Specialist Educational Psychologist at Essex County Council, presents on emotional wellbeing in schools:
Impact on mental health – University of Essex Challenge Project
Celia Hounsou, Graduate of University of Essex, presents on the University of Essex Challenge Project looking at the impact of Covid-19 on mental health:
‘We’re in this too’: Young People’s Perspective on Lockdown
Gemma Warsap, Research Fellow at Essex County Council, presents on ‘We’re in this too’, a young people’s perspective on lockdown:
Impact on Care Leavers
Chrissie Gavriel, Senior Insight and Evaluation Analyst at Essex County Council, presents on the impact of Covid-19 on Care Leavers:
Impact on children’s physical health
Lee Monk, Assistant Relationship Manager at Essex County Council presents on the impact of Covid-19 on children’s physical health:
The impact of the pandemic on the children’s system, multi-agency working and service delivery– insight from across the system - 28th July
Reflections from members of the Children’s Partnership Board
Nicola Park, Senior Strategy Advisor at Essex County Council presents some reflections from members of the Children’s Partnership Board on the impact of Covid-19 on the children’s system, multi-agency working and service delivery:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzSaVf6JWt4
Supporting schools around the needs of Vulnerable Pupils
Ralph Holloway, Head of SEND Strategy and Innovation, and Jo Barclay, Head of Education Safeguarding and Wellbeing at Essex County Council present on supporting schools around the needs of vulnerable pupils:
Essex Activate and multi-agency learning over the pandemic
Jason Fergus, Head of Active Essex at Essex County Council, and Stuart Long, Chief Executive Officer of ATF, present on Essex Activate and multi-agency learning over the pandemic:
Information Sharing in the Pandemic
Nicola Mallett, Head of Profession Data and Analytics at Essex County Council, presents on information sharing in the pandemic:
Impact of the Pandemic on Multi-Agency Working
Padraig Cotter-Boston, Service Manager, and Harriet Pickering, Lead for Partnership Delivery at Essex County Council, present on the impact of the pandemic on multi-agency working:
The pandemic from a commissioning perspective
Clare Burrell, Head of Strategic Commissioning and Policy at Essex County Council, presents on the pandemic from a commissioning perspective:
Response to the pandemic:
Karen Boath, Director of Family Services at SNAP (Special Needs And Parents), and Shelley Henderson, Scheme Manager at Home Start Colchester, present on their responses to the pandemic:
Response to the pandemic: Essex Youth Service
Bridget Craigen, Commissioner, Youth Work at Essex County Council, presents on the Essex Youth Service's response to the pandemic: