Recognising, understanding, safeguarding, and improving the health and well-being of children and families living in households with drug and alcohol misuse, mental ill health, parental conflict, domestic abuse, and gambling harm, is at the core of the Hidden Harm Strategy 2025 - 2028. To achieve this the following five key Strategic Priorities have been identified. These will form the foundation of the Hidden Harm Implementation Plan 2025 - 2028:
- Collaborative Working between Services.
- Being Compassionate and Trauma Informed.
- Whole Household Approach.
- Universal Prevention and Early Intervention.
- Commissioning and Governance.
This strategy commits Sheffield’s services to making things better for whole households where drug and alcohol misuse, gambling harm, domestic abuse and or mental ill health is a feature. It is therefore relevant to all services working with children, young people, adults, and families.
The Hidden Harm Strategy 2025–2028 will:
- Encompass a Whole Family Approach, including fathers, mothers, significant others as well as babies, children, young people, and their siblings and ensure their voices are heard in all assessments and multi-agency meetings. Look beyond the person in front of you.
- Support practitioners and services, through delivering training and developing tools and resources, to recognise and reduce the impact on children and families of living in households with drug and alcohol misuse, mental ill health, parental conflict, domestic abuse, and gambling harm.
- Promote collaborative and holistic working between services through shared information and discussion, shared understanding and thinking, joint assessment and plans and shared formulation.
- Acknowledge that partnership working and continuity of communication benefits families and safeguards people from being retraumatised by having to repeat their story to each service.
- Support and enable front line practitioners to look beyond the presenting issue and to utilise the full range of support available in Sheffield to offer appropriate interventions that will benefit households featuring vulnerabilities.
- Have a greater recognition and focus on intergenerational issues and transitions.
- Recognise that trauma informed services, schools and workforce will lead to a trauma informed community.
- Understand that compassionate leadership will help support a trauma informed workforce.
- Be inclusive and recognise that some people are more hidden than others – for example race, gender, disability.
- Listen to the views of children, young people, adults, and families.
- Ensure appropriate and relevant data is monitored, and that there are robust links with city wide needs assessment and audits to continually improve outcomes for families.
Further Information