The Wakefield Risk and Resilience Framework was developed to provide early year’s workers, teachers and youth support workers, learning mentors, social care and health practitioners across Wakefield with:

• A consistent, evidence-based and practical approach to promoting resilience therefore reducing risk of adverse outcomes
• The means to provide good quality interventions to promote resilience and reduce risk to all children and young people
• A programme that is cohesive and developmental from 0-19 years
• n approach that puts the child or young person at the centre and focuses on their competences.

It is hoped that the framework will contribute to effective multi-agency planning, commissioning, development and delivery of services that improve resilience and reduce risk for all children and young people and narrow the gap in outcome between those who do well and those who do not.

The Wakefield Risk and Resilience Framework was developed through repeated and ongoing stakeholder involvement. Group interviews, trials and questionnaires were used with parents, children, young people, professionals and VCS organisations within Wakefield to gather information and test the resource as it developed.

A small team used information gathered from the stakeholder interviews as well as the results of a national and international literature review to design a flexible framework which will support professionals.

Practitioners accessing the framework have the freedom to adapt the example schemes of work (session plans) to suit the needs, age and ability of the children and young people they are working with.

The eight competence areas

The framework has 8 main areas; the aims of each area are identified below…

1. Loving myself (self-awareness)
   • To develop a positive sense of self, self-esteem and self-confidence (including race, religion, gender, sexuality, ability/disability and age).
   • To understand that the way I feel about myself can affect the choices I make.
   • To be able to demonstrate feelings of belonging and acceptance in relation to my peers, my family and my community.
   • To understand the environment in which I am growing up and the effect this has on me.
   • To be able to assertively challenge bullying behaviour, prejudice and discrimination.
2. Expressing myself (self-management)
   • To be able to identify, manage and express my own needs and feelings.
   • To recognise and manage the feelings associated with loss and change (such as divorce, separation or bereavement).
   • To understand how my thoughts and feelings may affect my behaviour and the choices I make.
   • To recognise the physical and emotional changes that takes place during puberty.
3. Working it out (responsible decision-making)
   • To develop effective decision-making and problem-solving skills.
   • To understand my personal strengths and limitations.
   • To have the skills, confidence and knowledge to make informed financial
4. Being heard (effective communication)
   • To be able to communicate with others including, talking, listening, negotiating and being assertive.
   • To be able to recognise and resist peer pressure.
   • To be able to ask for help.
5. Living together (social awareness)
   • To develop an awareness of others, including having the ability to express empathy.
   • To understand that there are different types of relationships.
   • To explore how to develop and maintain positive, healthy relationships.
   • To be able to form and maintain positive relationships with peers, family members and others.
6. Keeping safe (risk awareness)
   • To be able to discriminate between ‘safe’ and ‘unsafe’ situations.
   • To be able to understand and manage risk and the consequences of risky behaviour.
   • To be able to establish and negotiate age-appropriate boundaries.
   • To understand the risks of using modern technologies (such as the internet, computer and video games and mobile phones) and know how to keep safe whilst using them.
7. Getting informed (information management)
   • To know where to go for help.
   • To be able to access and use information and services to meet needs.
   • To understand how the media presents information and the effect of this.
8. Knowing where I am going (self-efficacy)
   • To have a sense of purpose and positive aspirations for myself.
   • To be actively and positively engaged in nursery, school or college and my local community.
   • To have the ability or opportunity to make a difference.

Each area is broken down to provide an outline of the core competences that practitioners can expect children and young people to have achieved by the time they reach a particular age. These age ranges correspond to the main educational key stages, but the resource can equally be used in non-school settings and for this reason, age rather than key stage is used. Note that the age you focus on may be different to their actual (chronological) age.

The competences have example session plans and interventions attached which can be adapted to use with individuals, groups or children with additional learning needs.

A selection of physical resources are available to loan free of charge from the Resilience library based with Young Lives, Lightwaves Community Centre, Wakefield contact info@ylc.org.uk. These include the Luggage for Life emotional literacy programme (around transition), feelings cards, issue based board games and practical items such as beer goggles. We have recently purchased a range of books recommended by The Reading Agency to support children and young people around bereavement and loss, and improving their emotional well-being.

The WF-I-CAN.co.uk website is for children and young people to access themselves, it has two areas which are suitable for those aged 8-12 and 13 -19.

It is full of self-care tips and strategies to manage change and life’s challenges, it has useful information on a range of topics such as sleep and LQBTQ+ that will help them increase their own resilience. The activities and strategies are adapted from the interventions on the Resilience website therefore based on the competences from within the framework.