A Co-constructed and Co-produced Evaluation of the Anchor Project in Shetland

Section 4: Experiences of Anchor’s Benefits and Perspectives about Who’s Missing Out

4.1 Benefits Experienced by Parents

Project workers responded to practical needs for fuel credit, clothing, and food on an almost daily basis. For some families this was the extent of their involvement with Anchor. The six parents we engaged with had experienced Anchor over a longer period and identified how this had helped them with a range of complex social, emotional, and practical issues.

Two parent participants were incomers to Shetland. They described isolation and loneliness when life presented challenges such as bereavement, personal problems and traumatic family break up. Support through Anchor helped them to stabilise and maintain family life. Others who had longstanding commitments to Shetland, also talked about the sense of isolation, loneliness particularly when they sought to make life changes after having a long family history of disruption, as well as involvement with statutory services. The parents we spoke to identified feeling lonely and a lack of support due to family breakdown, lack of friendships and fears of stigma. Anchor helped them overcome some of the challenges isolation was causing. Anchor project workers helped parents access benefits to which they were entitled; complete job applications; and access higher education.

Female participant:

“I have been involved with the project for some time now, receiving support at times on a weekly basis. The support has been a huge benefit in a number of ways. These involve food packages and clothes when I’m in desperate need due to a low income and growing children. I think the biggest benefit however has been being able to speak to one of the anchor workers. We often speak through texts and phone calls. When things have gotten really hard, she has always been a phone call away for reassurance and support. I was often reminded that I was doing a great job of being a Mam to my wonderful children but I had to think about my own needs sometimes too. She encouraged me to do something I’d been really anxious about starting and eventually I signed up to do a degree which has been one of the best decisions of my life. Without the support and encouragement, I don’t think I would of signed up when I did. I am extremely grateful for the support I have received from Anchor and would highly recommend them to anyone needing that little bit of extra support.”

One parent discussed the challenges of growing up in Shetland within a family which they described as problematic, where their mother had long term substance misuse difficulties and problematic relationships with their father. As an adult, they had sought to make different decisions with their child, resulting in no contact with their family and hence feeling isolated. The discussion covered the challenges this presented, the ongoing challenge of being unable to seek advice and support regarding childcare and life from their family, the difficulties without a partner to share problems and seek views and support regarding a range of challenging situations including with neighbours, especially at night. The Anchor approach allowed them to consolidate independent skills and seek a different future. This parent viewed their story with Anchor as not yet being complete.

A young father who we spoke to, who had barriers to employment and health issues was unemployed, described how the Anchor project worker had helped to transform his relationship with his children’s school. In so doing, he described how this had helped to improve his personal standing as a parent in the eyes of the teaching staff. He described how his Anchor worker had been the only person who had truly listened to him and helped him during the previous, very difficult five years. He indicated he had an ongoing, difficult relationship with the mother of his children, but that he had also had a difficult relationship with the school in the past too. He disclosed that he was affected by drug dependency, had often felt ignored by the school and other statutory authorities (including health care and social services) when it came to any communication concerning his children. He indicated that his relationship with his Anchor project worker had not only enabled him to be involved in school communications and engage with the school in a more positive way compared to previous times but had led to him getting access to resources for himself and his children that he believed he would not have been able to secure otherwise.

Male participant:

“(project worker) from the Anchor Support Service was the first person in all this time who has helped me. I wouldn’t have what I do now if it hadn’t been for her. She has listened to me. She has been in and connected with agencies for me, telephone, sent emails, shared information and attended meetings with me. The agencies I have dealt with in my situation are often I feel dismissive and unhelpful. (project worker) has attended (name) School to have my voice heard, she took me to a hub for food and clothes which was a life saver at this time of year, helped me with CAB as I found them useless in the past. Provided me with a chrome book for the kids to do homework on and helped me get a man to come and fix it all up for me. She has provided me energy support for my quarterly bills and is providing a good parcel for Xmas that will be so helpful. She is my anchor. I think it is great as it is cannot think of anything to do more of, just do what you do for more people.”

One of the head teachers talked at length about the qualitative changes that they had noticed because of Anchor. The perspective considered the school as an integral and essential part of the community and to enable changes of lives and family circumstances. The head talked about the challenge of people either having poor educational experiences as children or that there had been generational challenges and poor relationships with schools. Anchor they felt had changed this through providing a generic and open services to all, resulting in less stigmatising engagement with the schools. One example discussed was where the school had noticed that a child’s clothing and general demeanour had deteriorated that it might be Anchor that would make the call to the parents to see if there were any problems or things that they could help with. This was felt to be better received by parents, rather than having the head of the school contacting them, which could immediately start to have wider implications. The involvement of Anchor was therefore seen as a low key and non-threatening support of a professional friend.

4.2 Who’s Missing Out and What Would be Lost if Anchor No Longer Existed?

As part of the second workshop in Phase two we asked participants what would be lost if Anchor no longer existed. Responses focused around three key areas: impact on families, multiagency working, and the opportunity for meaningful ‘systems’ change.

The impact on families and lost opportunities to improve outcomes for individuals and families was paramount. This was linked to lack of early intervention, negating established relationships, stopping families slipping through the net and the loss of local intelligence around families who would benefit from some support to lessen their chances of needing more intensive support from statutory services. Participants acknowledged Anchor removed stigma for those who engaged. The researchers identified this as a prominent issue for parents who were very comfortable with Anchor as a helpful and supportive intervention.

Participants also identified a significant loss to the progress they have made on multi-agency working if Anchor ceased. The Anchor journey has extended over several years and progress around shared vision, understanding and collaborative working was evident. However, there was recognition this was fragile and could be dismantled if momentum was lost. Sustaining Anchor in the longer term was identified as challenging by key stakeholders but the commitment to doing so came over as strong and palpable to the researchers.

The researchers identified the pride felt by key stakeholders in Anchor and its ‘strengths-based approach’. The journey through Anchor has brought, and continues to bring and maintain key players to, and at, the table. Significant work towards a shared vision and understanding has been achieved which is feeding into meaningful systems change. A key strength of Anchor lies in the family/community intelligence it is gathering which is unlikely from other statutory services, given their more defined role boundaries and reporting requirements.