Barnet’s Reducing Parental Conflict (RPC) Programme

The Reducing Parental Conflict Programme is aimed at supporting families, where there are issues of frequent and poorly resolved conflict between parents, which are negatively impacting children.

Over the last five years, councils have received Central Government (DWP) grant-funding to help them upskill their workforce, raise awareness among partners and embed practice to reduce Parental Conflict.

In Barnet, we have trained our Early Help Practitioners to use a set of structured interventions for parents still together and for parents living apart, experiencing low-level parental conflict. These interventions (developed by Amity Relationships) form a key part of our Child and Family Early Help Hub’s menu of interventions.

We also run specialist group supervision sessions- called ‘Practice Conversations’ facilitated by Tavistock Relationships, for social workers, Integrated Clinicians and Early Help practitioners, using a ‘Mentalisation’ approach, for those working with families, where there are higher levels of parental conflict.

In addition, we’ve offered multi-agency training for practitioners to understand the difference between domestic abuse and parental conflict, as well as sessions to raise awareness about how to recognise parental conflict and understand its impact on children.

For those who missed the brief RPC awareness raising session delivered to partner agencies last year in 2023 - there is now an abridged pre-recorded version here.

What’s new this year?

We have a new digital leaflet aimed at parents, co-produced with our Parent Champions. This leaflet signposts parents to our Reducing Parental Conflict webpage, which provides a range of self-help tools, animations, and materials.

Reducing parental conflict | Barnet Council - leaflet available here.

• Strengthening Families Strengthening Communities Free 6-week on-line RPC Parenting Group Programme (Directly funded for DWP for parents to access free between April 2023-24). Includes groups for parents living together and parents apart, with evening sessions available. We have received very positive feedback from families so far, who have accessed these programmes. See website below for more information and how parents can enrol.

Stronger Relationships courses – Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities (strengthening-families.net)

• In January, the Race Equalities Foundation offered additional specialist RPC training, to our already trained ‘Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities’ facilitators, within the C&F Early Help Hubs. This means that we will soon be able to start offer Group, as well as 1-1 RPC interventions to parents. This can either be as part of our generic SFSC parenting programmes or using the RPC materials to run more specialist groups.

For further general info about the Barnet’s Reducing Parental Conflict Programme please contact:

Contact: Michaela Carlowe, Early Help Service Manager, E/C, C&F Early Help Hub

020 8359 7640 or 07958 042326

michaela.carlowe@barnet.gov.uk