Get the Insider Track on Working with Families
Want the expert take on supporting families as they work through their unique challenges?
Kari Roberts
Then we have something special to share with you today. A few weeks ago, as part of our 25 Years of Daybreak call-out, our team sat down with Kari Roberts to hear her insights into helping children and families navigate the problems affecting their lives. Kari is perfectly placed to give us an expert’s perspective. She originally worked in children’s services for Southampton City Council as a Family Support Manager. Then she received training from Daybreak on how to help families and their wider networks come together, make decisions and overcome the challenges facing them by running Family Group Conferences. She worked for a while as one of our Family Group Conference Coordinators, supporting families in Portsmouth, before starting her own coaching practice in the Hampshire area. Now, she offers a range of services to parents and families, helping them to learn new approaches and build emotional strength. We can’t wait to hear what she has to say.
1. What initially appealed to you about working with Daybreak as a Family Group Conference Coordinator?
Working with children’s services as a Family Support Manager, I could see the benefits of bringing the whole family together to look at how they could work with each other to support a child in need. Quite often families are disempowered when statutory services are involved. I loved the way Daybreak worked with the families and how the voice of the child was at the centre of each Family Group Conference.
2. Which aspects of the Family Group Conference model stand out to you most?
What stood out for me most was spending time with everyone before the conference, getting everyone's views, especially the child’s, and then bringing them all together, with the lightbulb moments when people really felt heard and felt they had a voice.
3. How has your time as a Coordinator influenced your work now with parents?
I have continued to support parents to feel empowered and have confidence in parenting their children. As a professional ICF coach, I continue to partner with my clients, to help them to look at all possibilities and explore a plan that works for them as they move forward, while ensuring they feel heard and seen.
4. What do you believe families, children and young people need from support services in order to thrive?
A holistic approach, a sense of feeling heard, with a focus on empowering them to realise that they can do hard things and pull together. Children need the adults to hear them.
5. What advice would you offer someone who is experiencing a challenge in their lives?
Acknowledge Your Feelings: It's important to recognise and validate what you're feeling. Whether it's stress, sadness, frustration, or confusion, understanding your emotions is the first step in addressing them. Every emotion is valid no matter if it's pleasant or unpleasant. Bottling it up only magnifies things.
Break Down the Problem: When challenges seem hopeless, try to break them down into smaller, more manageable tasks. This can make it easier to see a path forward and take action step by step.
We’d like to offer an enormous thank you to Kari for sharing her thoughts with us, we hope you agree that her insights make for a fascinating contribution to our 25 Years of Daybreak campaign. You can read more about Kari’s work on her LinkedIn.
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