FAST In London
" I had no relationships with the families before FAST, and now I would feel
very comfortable calling the to chat, get together or ask advice. I am
looking forward to our monthly meetings".
Three pilot implementations have been successful in Bellingham Sure Start (Lewisham), Yeading Junior School (Hllingdon), and Pepper Hill Infant School (Milton Keynes). The programme founder, Professor Lynn McDonald (Middlesex University) resides in London. On June 12, 2008, Dr. McDonald organized a conference through Brunel University on the prevention role of social workers in schools which featured FAST.
See below for a press release that was published on November 3, 2006 and details the collaboration between the Institute of Psychiatry, Goldsmith’s College Social Work Department, Bellingham Sure Start, and SLAM in London.
[Baby FAST] in London
Recently, several babies under three-years-old participated with their families, wearing graduation hats, in a ceremony at Bellingham Sure Start in South East London. While Pomp and Circumstance played, the babies’ young mothers stood up to receive certificates of completion of a multi-family group program from a collaborative team of service users: Bellingham Sure Start, the Goldsmith College Social Work department, community volunteers, and the Institute of Psychiatry. This was the first such ceremony in the UK. It was the conclusion of a London pilot program that adapted an evidence-based social work model, which has been implemented and evaluated in Canada, Australia, and the United States. The program founder, Dr. Lynn McDonald, was visiting from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and [Families and Schools Together, Inc.], a non-profit, and she personally congratulated the mothers, hugged the babies, and commended the [Baby FAST] team.
In this unusual collaboration, the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry took the lead in addressing the issue of improving baby outcomes for young mothers. The outcomes were identified by the national Sure Start five-year evaluation, and this collaboration introduced an evidenced-based approach into the UK. With the support of CAMHS Director of Lewisham, Nick Topliss, who as both a social worker and a family therapist manager in SLAM understood the foundations of the systemic, multi-family group intervention, the connection with Bellingham Sure Start was made. Setting the pilot in South East London was based on the European statistics showing that the highest rate of teen pregnancy in Europe is in the boroughs of Lewisham, Lambeth, and Southwark.
Recruitment of and outreach to young mothers of babies and other family members was challenging, as this was a new approach for the UK. However, about eight babies came to check it out and five to six babies graduated in November from the eight weekly, early evening sessions. Rather than giving lectures, the group sessions had a crafts activity, singing of children’s songs, a community meal, talking in small groups about common scenarios which challenge young mothers, and support for the mothers in actually sitting on the floor to give their young children foot massages on colorful blankets. A closing circle sent babies home with smiling mothers. Experiential learning in a leisurely paced, safe, positive environment over the weeks gradually supported building stronger mother-infant bonds and relationships across the families. The culture and ethnicity of the Baby FAST Team reflected that of the babies’ families, in which there was a mix of white British, black British, and Greek, in order to speed up the group process of building socially inclusive and supportive relationships.
Evaluation Outcomes
Families that participated in the Baby FAST program at Goldsmith College graduated in the Fall of 2006. The new parents ranged in age 17-30 Of the new parents, 40% were African, 40% were Caucasian, and 20% specified “other.” There is evidence to suggest that the FAST Babies program facilitated by Goldsmiths College achieved the desired objectives of improved family relationships and increased self-efficacy. New parents reported a statistically significant improvement in cohesion (+32%) indicating they are experiencing a higher degree of commitment, help, and support from family members. In addition, new parents reported an improving trend in total family relationships (+35%, p = 0.06). Regarding self-efficacy, new parents reported an improving trend in their general self-efficacy scores (+5%, p = 0.07).
Young parents also reported developing very good relationships with team members and other program participants. On a scale from 1 (poor) to 10 (excellent), they rated their relationship with other new mothers a 7.8, with their parent buddy 8.2, with the new mother partner a 6.8, with the infant massage partner an 7.3, with the grandparent parent partner a 7.3, with the father partner an 6.5, with the community agency partner in the parents’ group a 6.0, with the nurse partner an 6.3. Parents also reported high program satisfaction. They also rated the program a 3.8 on their overall satisfaction (1=very dissatisfied and 4 = very satisfied) and a 3.8 in terms of its overall helpfulness (1 = not at all and 4 = a lot/considerably).
