One of the biggest changes the NEST Framework aims to achieve is to make expert help and advice more available.
From helplines, to information, to a regular visit from a specialist to a school or youth service, to multi-agency teams with mental health professionals embedded in them, there are many ways of achieving this.
The most important thing is that the grown-ups in children’s lives know where to go for help and can get it quickly if they need it. This makes them more likely to feel confident to work through difficulties with young people, instead of feeling out of their depth and passing them on to someone else for help.
We call this ‘holding on’ instead of ‘referring on’ and the aim is to stop families being passed from service to service, and telling their story lots of times, and never quite feeling that they are in the ‘right’ place.
Of course, sometimes specialists are needed to take a bigger role, but always with the aim of supporting those closest to children and young people first. This recognises that ‘everyday magic’ can be very powerful therapeutically.