ReconnectEd’s methodology
Emotion Coaching
The emotion coaching programme is trauma-informed: we know that healthy development of the brain is interrupted by trauma and so we have trained our coaches to understand this. We are using the freely available resources from the Harvard Centre for Child Development and Oxford University, for the Alberta Family Wellness Trust, who have together produced The Brain Story which uses an evidence-based training package and blended learning approach to teach the learner about the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences.
We know that the pandemic has also had a negative impact on some young people’s social skills (NFER, 2021) as well as their mental wellbeing. We also know that poor mental health increases the risk of exclusion (Ford, 2022) and ‘persistent disruptive behaviour’ is the main cause of exclusion (Timpson, 2019). There is also much evidence to support the importance of caring and nurturing relationships in making a difference to young people’s life chances through an emotion coaching approach.
Young people with adversity often have extraordinarily complex lives and we feel they need in-depth support over a longer period. ReconnectEd’s methodology differs from other interventions as it is founded on an intensive model whereby the coaches are embedded within the school community and have shared experiences; they meet with the young people daily during term time and ensure a joined-up approach to working with schools, home and local stakeholders.
ReconnectEd coaches meet with the young people every day over the course of a year, and, if needed, for up to 3 years. Many other programmes don’t offer daily intervention and run over a shorter, set period thereby often not being able to make a lasting and deep impact.
Each ReconnectEd coach will have a maximum caseload of 10 young people (5 who need intensive support). With ReconnectEd coaching, we expect the young people to move from needing intensive support to medium-level support to light-touch support, as the model to the right illustrates.
Coaching
Young people with adversity often have extraordinarily complex lives and we feel they need in-depth support over a longer period. ReconnectEd’s methodology differs from other interventions as it is founded on an intensive model whereby the coaches are embedded within the school community and have shared experiences; they meet with the young people daily during term time and ensure a joined-up approach to working with schools, home and local stakeholders.
ReconnectEd coaches meet with the young people every day over the course of a year, and, if needed, for up to 3 years. Many other programmes don’t offer daily intervention and run over a shorter, set period thereby often not being able to make a lasting and deep impact.
Each ReconnectEd coach will have a maximum caseload of 10 young people (5 who need intensive support). With ReconnectEd coaching, we expect the young people to move from needing intensive support to medium-level support to light-touch support, as the model below illustrates.
“I feel as though this programme is exactly what I needed as a child. We have created a safe place for our children to come when they need the support. Our children are more aware of their feelings and emotions and when to act on them, due to the emotion coaching we are giving them.”
— ReconnectEd Coach
Funding model
What resources do we need? ReconnectEd is seeking £1,000,000 to deliver an impact-assessed pilot in Sheffield in order to enable up to 100 young people facing adversity to flourish in mainstream school.
Multi-Academy Trust funding: we are asking our partner Trusts to fund 50% of the costs of the coaches, the remainder of which will be match funded by ReconnectEd. This amounts to nearly 25% of our 3-year budget.
We are seeking the remaining funding from a range of sources to enable us to complete the 3-year pilot in Sheffield. We are hugely grateful to our funders to date. If you would like to contribute please click below.
Local Advisory Groups
We facilitate locally-led advisory groups. These groups meet one to two times per term to promote effective communication and joined-up thinking and working locally. They act as advocates for the programme by making connections and drawing on local intelligence and expertise.
One group comprises local young people (some from our target group) and the other comprises local stakeholders (e.g. School and Trust staff, ReconnectEd and local youth group leaders). Group members are valued ReconnectEd advisors.