A week in the life of a Service Coordinator
Tina Orme is a Service Coordinator at our Staffordshire Emotional Health and Wellbeing Service. She takes us on a tour of her busy week, from arranging care pathways to crafting ‘worry catchers’.
Mondays are always busy! The first thing I do is meet up with the duty team, Amanda & Shelley, both Young People Practitioners. We allocate who will be completing which referral calls and identify any ‘bottlenecks’. We also look at what workshops we need to plan, to meet the needs of the young people we work with.
Finding team members to facilitate additional workshops can be tough as everyone is already working to capacity. I schedule the groups and it can be challenging to work out the logistics.
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On Tuesdays, I’m responsible for triaging all referrals that come in. Today we have 23 referrals for children and young people that need our support with their emotional health and wellbeing. I read and assess each referral to decide on the most suitable pathway for them. I consider their age and clinical need, and what level and areas of support they need.
Is it support with anxiety, low mood, self-harm, self-esteem issues or managing emotions? Do they need help to manage anger or support for their parents to understand the needs of their children, including neurodiversity and anxiety?
If a referral is particularly complex or if there’s a risk to self within the referral, then I assign it to our Multi-Disciplinary Team meeting which we hold three times a week. Today there are some complex cases. I often find it quite difficult to read through some of the referrals and the difficulties the children and young people experience.
I loved the techniques and how they were explained to me! It was really really easy to understand!
A service user
Wednesday is our Wellbeing Day. The whole team attends, and we do lots of fun, creative activities with children and young people that teach them about emotions and give them strategies for how to manage them. The team splits up into smaller groups, each at a different craft table. We make ‘calm down jars’, ‘worry catchers’, music playlists, mood glasses and more.
It takes lots of preparation to bring the day together! Cosmo, the Action for Children mascot, is with us today and all the children are so excited to see him. I make sure all the teams have everything they need and help out at a table if it’s really busy.
Read another staff story
I spend Thursday mornings at the Children and Families Single Point of Access (CAFSPA). We work together with CAMHS and school nurses to ensure each child and young person can access the most appropriate service in a timely manner. I answer any queries they may have about a particular case. It’s great to work together with other services.
Then it’s time for another Multi-Disciplinary Team meeting. Together we look at all of the cases on the list. These are the most complex cases, so discussing them together helps us to identify the best possible support for each child and young person.
Finally, we have our SLT meeting where we discuss the recent increase in risk we’re managing and the additional demand this puts on the service. We also think together about our pathways. Are we meeting everyone’s needs? Do we need to develop further pathways to cater for the children and young people we support?
I have learnt new coping skills and techniques on how to cope in certain situations and how to calm myself down.
A service user
On Friday, I pick up risk and safeguarding concerns from the team. All the SLT support with this. One of the practitioners asks for support in the chat and whoever is free will support them.
These queries can be complex and difficult to hear. It’s my job to talk the Young Person Practitioner through the risk and identify what actions need to be taken. I guide the Practitioner in the actions she needs to take to safeguard the young person and the support that we can offer. I also take the time to check how the Practitioner is feeling as it is a difficult case.
That’s the insight into my week. I’d like to now tell you about the broader aims of our service and my feelings towards my job role.
Our service provides emotional wellbeing support for children across Staffordshire, aged from 5 to 18 years and up to 25 years if the young person is looked after or has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). We have a team of over 30 colleagues who deliver workshops or one-to-one interventions on anxiety, low mood, self-esteem, self-harm, and anger. We also go into schools and other clubs and groups to provide preventative ‘whole class’ approaches.
The help we offer is based on listening to children, young people and their families or carers. Together, we talk about what the problem might be. This way, we can explore new solutions and make positive changes to their lives.
Last year we received 3,552 referrals for children and young people. That’s a considerably large number! I know that without the work we do, these young people can struggle to get the support they need. My role is demanding and challenging but also extremely rewarding. We get amazing, positive feedback from people and about 98% of them report successful outcomes when their interventions end.
I love working for Action for Children. As an employee, you can feel the organisation’s values in every single member of staff - they are not just words on paper. I hope to be here for a very long time and to continue to grow and develop in my role.
At Action for Children, we have thousands of frontline workers supporting children and young people every day. We do this through giving children and young people a safe and loving home. Through supporting disabled children, young people and their families. And through building children and young people's emotional resilience to help them overcome challenges.
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