Community Family Trusts, National Association of,

Totnes Community Family Trust

Totnes Community Family Trust

The Trust was founded by a group of people who believe that the social cost of relationship breakdown in the home, at school and at work in terms of separation and divorce, unemployment and crime is simply unacceptable. Despite the millions of pounds spent on dealing with the consequences of family breakdown, next to nothing is spent on investing in the quality of peoples' relationships. All too often, separation and divorce create more problems than solutions.

Few people are adequately prepared, much less trained, for two of the most important roles in our lives i.e. partnership and parenting. Relationships tend to come under strain at key points in our lives: these can usually be foreseen and planned for. The skills needed to manage relationships successfully e.g. conflict resolution, assertiveness, effective communication etc. can be learned.

Key Stages In Relationship Training

In Totnes, the Trust is working with Education, Health, the Registrar and the Churches to ensure that everyone in our community has an opportunity to improve their relationship skills and that this is built in to the existing service delivery. Currently, parenting groups and marriage preparation classes are now available. Planning is underway to integrate relationship skills teaching into pre-and ante-natal classes and the personal and social education curriculum at the comprehensive school.

Providing the opportunity for everyone in our community to learn and practice the skills required to manage their relationships successfully is a positive and practical way of helping families stay together, for our young people to achieve their full potential, and improving the quality of life for everyone.

Aim of the Trust

The aim of the Trust which is currently applying for charitable status is: "To advance public education in matters concerning interpersonal relationship skills with a view to developing personal responsibilities and strengthening and enriching family life."

The Role of the Trust

No one agency, either at a government or local level, is responsible for supporting people in their relationships, and yet many organisations are deeply concerned about the consequences of relationship breakdown e.g. Health, Education, Police, Social Services, the Church etc. The Trust provides a forum where these agencies can meet with others to identify gaps in provision, and to plan and co-ordinate a shared response. Experience has shown that agencies are only too keen to work together in promoting healthy relationships, but lack the tools to do the job i.e. information, training and teaching materials. The Trust sees its role in enabling and resourcing a multi-agency response.

Values of the Trust

The values underpinning our work are:

Empowerment - we believe that the local community can and should take responsibility for the quality of relationships. We also believe that wherever appropriate, volunteers should be equipped, trained and supervised in teaching relationship skills, thus freeing up professionals to deal with more serious problems and crises.

Education - All people can use help in improving their relationships from time to time, and everyone is able, given the opportunity and will, to learn the skills required to manage relationships successfully. Experiencing difficulties in relationships is all part of everyday life, and so we are promoting a planned, educational approach rather than crisis intervention, therapy or counselling.

Prevention - We believe that the emphasis should be on prevention rather than cure, and that it is better to help everyone deal with difficulties that can be foreseen rather than wait until relationships have broken down.

Co-operation - In order to be effective and make the best use of resources we want to work collaboratively with anyone who shares our concerns and objectives.