At the Violence Reduction Unit’s Research and Evaluation Conference, Dr Alex Walker, Violence Prevention Outcomes Officer, presented a poster on how violence prevention interventions and approaches across Cardiff and Swansea operate to identify and support individuals.
The poster highlights the methods, findings and recommendations from a recent whole-system evaluation commissioned by the Wales Violence Prevention Unit (VPU). The VPU commissions a range of violence prevention activity in South Wales, including two violence prevention coordinators for the Safeguarding Adolescents from Exploitation (SAFE) Partnership in Cardiff and the Contextual, Missing, Exploited and Trafficked (CMET) Panel in Swansea. The operating models of SAFE and CMET ensure that the needs of children and young people are met by bringing together statutory services with community support, to provide a whole-system approach to violence prevention.
The VPU has recently published an evaluation of the SAFE and CMET models, which was conducted by Liverpool John Moores University. Overall, the evaluations found that the children and young people involved with the interventions associated with SAFE and CMET had increased knowledge and awareness of risks, were better able to make informed choices, develop alternative coping strategies and had improved health and wellbeing. The evaluation findings also indicate that the VPU model of commissioning and delivery contributes to the overarching aims of reducing violence and harm among children and young people. The SAFE Partnership and CMET Panel were also viewed as important models for bringing partners together in a multiagency response to violence prevention.
The evaluation recommendations include continuing to amplify the voices of children and young people to ensure their voices are at the heart of decision-making processes, and securing long-term investment and funding to create stability in services and consistency of care.