A pilot study of the usefulness of a strength‐based, systemic and trauma‐informed training programme for early help practitioners (van Roosmalen, Panton, 2025)

Marc van Roosmalen, Molly Parrish, Eve Panton

Child & Family Social Work (Jan 13, 2025).

There is limited evidence for strength-based early help (EH) frameworks within the UK, despite multiple government funded reviews highlighting the need for them. Van Roosmalen developed a practice framework grounded in systemic, trauma-informed and resilience principles, which comprises of three dimensions: resilient families, resilient practitioners and resilient multiagency systems. Nineteen EH practitioners were interviewed in focus groups about their perception of how the training programme affected their practice with families. Thematic analysis of focus group transcriptions established that it produced improvements in all three dimensions. Overarching themes highlighted a shift in understanding the relational and interactional nature of difficulties within families. The participants identified the training to have a positive effect on their resilience and ability to manage the service pressures when working with families with complex needs. Finally, participants reported the need for the wider professional network to be familiar with the practice framework for an effective and resilient system, the third dimension of the model. This study provides new evidence to support a strengths-based model of EH training and practice.