Joanna Nichols - Teenage Pregnancy Strategy Co-ordinator
Job role: Teenage Pregnancy Strategy Co-ordinator
Joanna Nichols is the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy Co-ordinator for Calderdale Children's Trust.
Here, she explains how the common core underpins integrated working in her local services, and gives everyone an improved understanding of how to get the best for children and young people.
"I think it's absolutely necessary for anybody working with children and families to have the skills to understand them, and to know how to bring in other professionals.
"The common core describes six areas of expertise we all need to have. I think this is manageable and sensible. I think the areas are all equally important, but in different ways.
Developing understanding
"The areas all overlap and support one another. With issues like safeguarding, for example, if you are not having honest and open conversations, the young person is probably not going to tell you what pressures they are under, and you won't be able to identify risks.
"In other words, there's no point being able to identify all the bits on a tick list if you don't know how to have a conversation with somebody who is 15 and a bit stroppy. Safeguarding and communication skills go hand in hand.
The common core also says everyone needs to know about the effects of transitions on children and young people. The transition from primary to secondary school is a particular key area for us. Then other transitions are important, particularly like leaving care and leaving school altogether.
"We need to make sure that anybody who is working with our children and families understands the importance of transitions.
Underpinning multi-agency working
We are currently developing work so that targeted youth support key workers can train midwives around the common core.
"Midwives are about as different from youth workers as you could possibly be - but they both need to be able to engage with young people.
"And in areas like sexual health, we need to be able to work from a basis of understanding young people's development.
"While their midwifery skills are outstanding, if we don't have effective communication and understanding, we still won't get results.
In practice - the common core at work
"The common core has moved on our workforce development approach. It has given us a framework for all of our training and support.
"We've now developed a training suite based on the six elements.
"Having common core skills gives everyone a broader view - and means we all know what each other is talking about.
"One example here is a young man who came in for smoking cessation advice from his school nurse. Instead of just talking to him about cigarettes, she asked him about his life and why he was smoking.
"It turns out he was having a lot of difficulty in a foster placement. She had had training which included elements of the common core, so she knew who to talk to and how to involve them.
"The fostering and adoption team did some work and now the young man has a very stable placement, has stopped smoking and is improving at school."
We need these common skills because we might only get one bite of the cherry. Young people may only approach services once, so we need to make sure everyone working with them can see life from their perspective and engage with them.
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