Bedford Row Family Project

Bedford Row is committed to ongoing training in Family Support and Crisis Intervention to give interested, enthusiastic and passionate people the skills necessary 1) to assist family members who experience the hurt of imprisonment, addiction and related factors, and 2) to assist parents – in particular young parents who may be from families that struggled with addiction and imprisonment in the past – to embrace their responsibilities and ‘break the cycle’.

The first Diploma in Family Support and Crisis Intervention was held from Sep 09 to Jun 11. We are most grateful to Limerick Regeneration Agencies, HSE West, and the RAPID Programme who believed in us to fund the initial training initiative. The first cohort of nine students graduated in Jul 2011. Five of these graduates now work in various capacities in Bedford Row, one works with Limerick City Drugs Intervention Initiative, one works with Limerick AD-HD Group, one works a Family Resource Worker in St. Munchin’s Parish, and another is progressing with further studies in psychotherapy.

As a direct result of this training our capacity to respond to families in distress has increased significantly. If you wish to know more please contact the Project at info@bedfordrow.ie

The courage that the initial participants on this course showed in putting themselves ‘out there’ was such that we now call this initiative ‘Misneach’, the Irish word for courage

• Significant alleviation of distress in what is usually a very distressing time.
• Identification of difficult emotions such as guilt, shame and anger and utilisation of such emotions particularly anger in a positive way.
• Building of confidence and self esteem, a sense of hope, and an ability to cope.
• Very practical and direct support with issues such as inadequate housing, school placement, etc. etc.
• Widening of horizons of parents to include an appreciation of what, in particular, children are experiencing.
• Increase in relationship building skills to form and maintain relationships that are significant and nurturing.
• Early assessment of needs so that appropriate and timely interventions can be offered in partner agencies if such are identified and appropriate.
• Inculcation of a sense of belonging in Bedford Row Family Project.
• Ongoing involvement in research and evaluation of how the Project is doing.

1. Emotional:  The emotional elements of students’ experience were attended to so that graduates became confident and competent in dealing with the emotional dimension that, it is expected, will be an integral part of the day-to-day practice in the field.
2. Skills:  Numerous skills were practiced constantly in order to equip graduates with the competences necessary to assist people to cope with unexpected situations, ease their distressing crises in life, and ultimately effect positive change.
3. Principles/Ethos:  Awareness of societal/ethical issues is very important for any practitioners working in the field.  A description of communitarian models of working with people, compassion, purpose of, what gets in the way of compassion were important elements.  Power issues in society and in helping professions were also included.
4. Models/Methodologies of Therapeutic Intervention:  Many different methodologies and therapies which have developed over the years which need to be applied in different situations were covered.  Knowledge of these will enhance client safety through considerations of choice of language and dialogue, uniqueness of each encounter.
5. Educational:  Subjects such as child development, child protection in families where criminality is prevalent, ‘the role of shame in growth’ vs. ‘toxic shame’, development of conscience, attachment theory, the phenomenon we call ADHD + other factors that impair normal development were all on the course.
6. Practical:  Practical elements such as planning, estimating expenditure of money, report writing, filing, using modern technology to its optimum, following office procedures correctly, security, link between good office procedures and boundaries were covered.

Bedford Row Family Project believes that the best and most effective way to address the difficult issue of family involvement in crime and the inevitable subsequent involvement in imprisonment and all the distress that that entails is to facilitate responsible, compassionate, and caring people from the communities most affected by imprisonment to utilise their wisdom, insight, and strength to bring about long-term change in such families and ‘break the cycle’.

All training in the Project is designed to enable that long-term change.
The first run of the Course exceeded expectations and plans are already underway to repeat it in 2012.  Recently, to this end, we were granted a significant sum of money by The Wheel to be the lead agency (of ten) to run a further Course in 2012-2013.
We are now actively seeking matching funding to make this dream come true!