Forward was first launched in Plymouth in Feb 2019, supporting a small partnership in Plymouth to deliver the Pause programme to two cohorts (‘communities’) of women. This was subsequently replicated and scaled through three additional county-wide services in Derbyshire, Northamptonshire and Worcestershire.

Pause works with women who have experienced extreme, and often, chronic trauma. This contributes to them being unable to effectively care for children. The removal of children then compounds their trauma and pain. As services are most often focussed on the children, when they are removed, the women feel abandoned. They also have little, if any, trust in professionals or services. Coupled with the shame and guilt they feel about the loss of their children, it is extremely difficult for them to then access services, even when signposted. Retaining information, problem solving and making positive decisions about their own wellbeing can also prove challenging. Pause is a unique service that reaches out and uses relationship-based practice to engage with and offer opportunities to this community of women. Many women who engage through Forward have multiple, complex needs, including current or historical domestic abuse (80%), mental ill-health (81%), unstable housing, learning difficulties and substance or alcohol misuse.

Forward works with central and local government, and trusted partners Pause (a social franchise), Trevi (a women and children’s charity) in Plymouth and Catch 22 (a social business specialising in justice, young people and families, employability, and education) in Derbyshire, Northamptonshire and Worcestershire to support this group of isolated women.

Forward applies significant focus on the environment around the team, providing them with the best possible platform from which to deliver the Pause programme and support the women they are working with. Through insights from data, from the frontline team and the women, Forward has delivered a number of additional supportive solutions, including new specific roles focused on increasing capacity where it is needed, enhanced follow-on support, additional clinical supervision and specialist training for the team and the sourcing of supplementary funding to directly benefit the women.