Parachute is a project for 10-18 year olds who have been identified as needing help in managing conflict in their relationships. Parachute is aimed at young people who may already have a history of resorting to violence to try and solve conflict. They may have a history of frequent conflict at home, in their relationships, or at school. 

Parachute is designed to:

• Develop self awareness and self control
• Promote positive social skills
• Teach pro-social problem-solving skills
• Increase confidence and self esteem
• Improve decision making

 
The programme includes adaptations of exercises found in several empirically established programmes of work aimed at addressing domestic abuse, general offending behaviour and poor school performance. Elements of these programmes have been brought together designed for use specifically with young people.
 
Parachute is a combination of skills-building and cognitive behavioural approach to developing behaviour change. The fundamental premise of cognitive behavioural work is that by increasing an individuals self awareness you allow them to have more control over their decisions, their thoughts and their behaviour.
 
Therefore, the programe is about offering young people an opportunity to learn about themselves and as a result, change their behaviour in the future. It is not about ‘fixing’ them or ‘forcing’ them to change. They will have to choose to use the skills they learn on the programme. The sessions will show them that there is another way to handle problems and conflict rather than resorting to abusive or violent behaviour.

​There are 2 elements to the programme- group work and/or 1:1 sessions.  

Expect Respect is a programme aimed at empowering Young Women to Expect Respect in their Relationships. Through a range of engaging activities and discussions, this programme aims to enable participants to learn about domestic abuse, identify healthy and unhealthy relationships

​Explore their own relationships, build self-esteem, confidence and positive body image and
Learn how to stay safe and how to get help.

Young People's Recovery Toolkit is a course for children who have witnessed or experienced domestic abuse and are able to take part in a group. The overall aims of the group are to help children and young people come to terms with their experiences and to develop positive lifestyle and coping strategies.  Living with domestic abuse forces children and young people to develop unconscious coping strategies that keep them safe within the context of unequal power divides and extremely controlling behaviour by the perpetrator. This is likely to be particularly influential in how the young person develops beliefs and attitudes about themselves, the world around them and differences with gender roles. This programme is informed by Trauma Focused Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.
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Topics covered, how abuse affects our thinking, self esteem – what is it?, my family, talking positive, ways to handle difficult feelings, healthy relationships and trust. This programme is suitable for male or female young people aged 11-16. It usually runs for 8 weeks for 90 minutes.

 








Helping Hands is a fun packed programme for children. It addresses the challenging issues of personal space, awareness of acceptable and unacceptable behaviours, and safety planning. Three themes, called the Protective Behaviours, are reinforced throughout the programme

We all have the right to feel safe all the time. There is nothing so small or so awful we can’t talk about it with someone. Others have the right to feel safe with us. It is aimed at children aged 6-11 and runs for 60 mins per week for 6 weeks. It is particularly useful for children who have experienced/witnessed domestic abuse but is also a suitable course for any children to learn about protective behaviours.