Work with SOFEA

It’s all about prevention.

Many of the young people we work with suffer from the effects of the ‘toxic trio’ of domestic abuse, substance abuse and mental health problems. Whatever organisation you belong to, you’ll see the effect through your own lens.

Police see it in knife crime and exploitation. Health services see it in anxiety, psychosis and depression. Schools see it in exclusions.

SOFEA is able to take a wider view. What we see is the effect across all agencies and our effect is this: we reduce costs for statutory agencies. We mitigate the effect of budget cuts. And as funding drops and hurdles grow, we help ensure the money you do have, does more.

With your help, we can prevent a lifetime of social cost. Here’s how.

Why else do people come to SOFEA?

Mental health and abuse are far from the only reasons the people we help come to us. Others include:

  • Learning disabilities
  • Feeling ignored or excluded by mainstream education
  • Neurodiverse conditions that make thriving in mainstream education difficult
  • Needing support to get into paid work
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Police

By the time young people are on the police radar, there’s usually a legacy of missed opportunities to combat the ‘toxic trio’. The police face the results of that legacy every day. But by working with SOFEA, they can have an impact at the earliest stages of drugs misuse, gang culture and county lines exploitation.

SOFEA already runs outreach programmes for at-risk young people, thanks to funding from the Police and Crime and Commissioner. With more support, we can help many more young people  avoid the downward spiral that ruins lives, and burdens the police, court and probation services.

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Schools

No school wants to permanently exclude a child. But schools simply aren’t equipped or funded to deliver the one-to-one therapeutic approach that some young people need.

SOFEA is. When they struggle to connect with the traditional school environment, we give young people a new way to thrive. It’s an approach that starts with the cause of disengagement and leads to long-lasting behavioural change.

It’s also an approach that helps 90% of the young people who complete our courses pass. And that includes GCSE English and maths. Where young people are reintegrated into school, the difference is unmistakable.

Discover the difference SOFEA could make.

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Healthcare providers

Local Primary Care Networks (PCNs) are overwhelmed with people seeking treatment for anxiety and depression. Yet often, the best treatment is to encourage engagement – helping find a way to connect with others, a way to build confidence and self-esteem.

SOFEA helps people find a new direction. What’s more, with a ‘social prescription’ of SOFEA, young people and adults can access far more than tailored wellbeing support. They can find purpose in our food surplus warehouses. And in our community larders they can find debt advice, financial management support and a community connection.

A complete support ecosystem, discover how working with SOFEA could help build community mental health resilience in your PCN.

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Children’s & Adult Social Services

In the face of dwindling budgets, statutory services have become the point of focus for Social Services. Yet real progress is easier and far less expensive to make when interventions happen earlier.

SOFEA works with Children’s & Adult Social Services to provide support that prevents behaviour becoming ingrained and interventions becoming statutory. We are trauma informed and asset based, understanding the causes and context of behaviour, not just its outcomes.

And we make funding stretch further, ensuring local communities can still access the provision they once could.

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Local authorities

We describe SOFEA as a complete support ecosystem. For local authorities, that can make a huge and wide ranging difference. Here’s just one example of how that can work in practice:

A local council pays the £10 joining fee for 1,000 local people to access our community larders. Then, for just £3.50 a week, those people get £15-20 worth of food. But that’s not all. At the larder they can also access debt advice, financial management support and make the sort of connections that protect mental wellbeing and prevent them burdening health services.

A small investment with SOFEA brings enormous additional value. So make your budget work harder.