Services in your area

North East and Cumbria

"Here in the North East and Cumbria we are refocusing our work and offering a wider range of services to a greater number of children and families. Our experienced practitioners are providing new innovative programmes to some of the region's most vulnerable children and young people.

"These include programmes that will help children whose lives have been harmed by sexual abuse or neglect, children from minority ethnic communities, children who are looked after by the local authority, and children who are at risk of physical abuse."

Liz Benson, head of NSPCC services for children and families in North East and Cumbria (pictured).

About our work in the North East and Cumbria

We have service centres in Newcastle, Carlisle, Middlesbrough, and a centre in Catterick, which provide direct services to children and families across the region. The centres are designed to be places where children can feel safe and supported and better able to overcome the trauma they have experienced.

The work we do in our service centres concentrates on the most important issues affecting children and groups of children who are most at risk. Read more about the overall approach to what we do, or contact your local team for more information.

Find out about how NSPCC services produces an impact for children living locally:

Local Impact Statement - North East & Cumbria (PDF, 9.2kb)

Newcastle service centre

Our Newcastle service centre was launched in May 2011, and focuses on helping children and young people whose lives have been affected by sexual abuse, children from minority ethnic groups, and children and young people who are looked after by the local authority. The team delivers the following programmes:

Change for good - prevents sexual abuse by working with children who show harmful sexual behaviour.
Letting the future in - provides therapeutic services to help children move on with their lives after sexual abuse.
Reunification of children home from care - helps ensure children who are reunited with their birth families are not abused or neglected again. (to be delivered from December)

Moving forward into 2012, the Newcastle centre will build on its work with local minority ethnic groups to make sure children, young people and their families are provided with and can access appropriate services to receive the help they need.

Carlisle service centre

Our Carlisle service centre was re-launched in July 2011. It includes important new projects that support children whose lives have been affected by sexual and physical abuse or neglect. The team delivers the following programme:

Change for good - prevents sexual abuse by working with children who show harmful sexual behaviour.
Over the next few months the service centre team will begin to deliver a further two new programmes:
Assessing the risk, protecting the child - a good practice guide for the assessment of adults to protect children from sexual abuse.
Letting the future in - provides therapeutic services to help children move on with their lives after sexual abuse.

Middlesbrough service centre

Our Middlesbrough service centre offers services to vulnerable children, young people and their families in the Teesside area. Over the coming months the team in Middlesbrough will begin to offer a range of new innovative programmes to help children who are at risk of physical and sexual abuse, including:

Family SMILES - work with children who have at least one parent with a mental health problem. The programme aims to reduce the risk of abuse and neglect and help the family compile a safety plan.
Assessing the risk, protecting the child - a good practice guide for the assessment of adults to protect children from sexual abuse.

Catterick centre

We also have a team of practitioners located on a military base in Catterick. Over the coming months we will build on our work in North Yorkshire, where we have worked with the army effectively for several years. Our team in Catterick will begin to offer the following programmes:

Graded Care Profile - a national evaluation of a tool for assessing the care of children and identifying potential and actual child neglect.
SafeCare® - a pioneering programme which protects babies and young children from neglect by working with families where there are early concerns about neglect.