Member News: TACT partnership project nominated for prestigious national award

The Adolescent and Children’s Trust (TACT) is delighted that a project it initiated with The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust has been shortlisted in the Children and Young People Now Awards 2018. The Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD) project has been nominated in the Mental Health and Wellbeing category alongside innovative mental health projects from across the UK.

VIPP-SD was originally developed by some of the world’s leading attachment researchers from Leiden University in Holland. VIPP-SD practitioners work primarily with caregivers and young children, using non-intrusive video technology to record visits and caregiver/child interaction. The practitioner can spend time studying reactions and pick up on signals and behaviours that could otherwise be missed in real time. The practitioner is trained to identify these often tiny clues and work with families to find effective solutions to any challenging behaviour or attachment issues, sharing the footage to illustrate specific points.

In 2014 TACT successfully submitted a bid, in conjunction with the Tavistock Trust, to the Consortium of Voluntary Adoption Agencies (CVAA)  to bring VIPP-SD to the UK, in order to increase adopters for harder to place children and develop an evidence-based post-adoption support intervention.

Since then 45 professionals have been trained in VIPP-SD, and as a result of completing the training, over 60 new families have received VIPP-SD. In addition, a VIPP Community of Practice (a shared learning forum) was launched in June 2018 for all UK trained practitioners, of which there are almost 50 members to date.

VIPP-SD has been shown via randomised control trials to be extremely effective with a variety of groups (under 5’s, adoptive parents, childcare for example) and its successes have been extensively reported in many peer reviewed journals.

Andy Elvin, CEO of TACT said: “TACT is proud that VIPP-SD has been shortlisted for such a prestigious award. It is testament to the highly innovative nature of the project, the excellent work of VIPP-SSD practitioners, and the positive impact it has had on the lives of adoptive families.”

Rachel James, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, co-lead for the National VIPP Unit said: ”We’re delighted to have our innovative work with video-feedback interventions recognised by the Children and Young People Now awards, and to be part of a strong field in the Mental Health and Well being category. It’s great to have this recognition not only for the project team, but also for our recently launched VIPP-SD Community of Practice and all our UK trained practitioners.” 

The award winners will be announced on 21 November 2018.

Source:
www.tactcare.org.uk

---