Geeza Break Annual Report 2012, 2013

Geeza Break Annual Report 2012/20131
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Annual Report
2012 - 2013
Ge
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Geeza Break Annual Report 2012/2013 2
3 Message from Elaine C Smith
4 General Information
5 What We Do
6 Director’s Report
7 Main Achievements
10 CEO Report
11 Respite Team
Brenda Connell & Jane Timoney
Family Support Team
12 Respite Administration
Nisa Shahul
13 Activity Based Respite
Jayne Doherty
Centre Based Respite T.O.F.F.E.E. Club
Sandra Anderson
15 Kinship Care FASS
Audrey Platt
17 Big Lottery Funded
‘Making Connections For Families In Need
Cathy Melrose & Ed Inglis
18 Accounts
20 Characteristics of Families and Services

Table of Contents

I am delighted to be a supporter of Geeza Break as
it is a brilliant voluntary organisation that needs to
be applauded for helping to ensure that the most
vulnerable in our community – both carers and those
who receive care – get the best of help. The type of
services offered plugs a much needed gap in childcare
and family support in the North East of Glasgow.
As I live in this part of the city, I feel a close affinity to
this charity and was happy to officially open their new
premises in 2012.
Elaine C Smith
September 2012

If you would like further information about any of our services,
or feel that you or your family could benefit from support from
Geeza Break, please contact us at the office.
Office Hours: Monday – Thursday: 9am – 5pm
Friday: 9am – 4pm
Address: Geeza Break
1450 - 1456 Gallowgate
Glasgow G31 4ST
Email: info@geezabreak.org.uk
Website: www.geezabreak.org.uk
Our Accountants: Scott Moncrieff
Our Bankers: Royal Bank of Scotland
Background
Geeza Break is a voluntary organisation providing Respite and
Support Services to families who meet the referral criteria. The
service is intended to be short-term, flexible support to families
experiencing stress, crisis or isolation.
Geeza Break provides a Respite and Support Services within the
North East CHP and city wide.
The service is managed by a local Board of Directors who have
overall responsibility to ensure the service is meeting its targets,
providing a quality service and securing funding for continuity of
services to our clients.
General Information

What We Do
Geeza Break provides family support and flexible respite services
to parents with children aged 0 -16 years who are experiencing
addiction, stress, crisis and /or isolation.
A large part of our work is providing respite care through the
following interventions.
Respite Care Service (Family Based)
Children are cared for at the homes of carefully selected and vetted
Respite Carers. In the main, children are cared for overnight on
a planned basis and in emergency situations. Respite Carers are
volunteers. In 2013 Geeza Break recruited a paid Respite Carer to
compliment existing services.
Respite Sitter Service (Home Based)
Children are cared for in their own home by Respite Sitters who are
employed by the organisation on a sessional basis. In the main, care
is provided in the evenings and at weekends when other childcare
services are unavailable.
Centre Based Respite (T.O.F.F.E.E. Club)
Children are cared for within existing local resources during normal
office hours through the T.O.F.F.E.E. Club. Primary school children
aged 5-12 years are cared for during the 2 week Easter Holiday
period, the Summer School Holiday period and 1 week during the
October Holiday period. The service is delivered in partnership
with East End Mobile Play Team to provide activities that meet the
individual needs of children referred.
Activity Based Respite - Geeza Chance
The Young Person’s Support Worker will befriend young people
aged 8 - 14 years and provide informal one to one support and
group work, the worker will also accompany young people to free/
low cost clubs and activities in their local area so that they make new
friends and feel less isolated. This service is for kinship families.
Second Generation (Kinship Care)
Through the delivery of the Kinship Care Project, Geeza Break
offers respite to Grandparents and relatives caring for children as a
result of parental addiction.
Family Support Service
This is an intense specialised one-to-one and group support which is
offered to families experiencing poverty, abuse, isolation, addiction,
crisis situations and/or mental health issues. Parents are enabled to
increase their confidence and parenting skills through individual and
group work sessions provided by a team of fully vetted and trained
Family Support Workers. The Family Support Workers provide a
support and mentoring service and encourage the uptake and access
to local services that meet with the family’s individual needs. Our
Family Support Workers have a good knowledge of what is available
in each community to link vulnerable families into. The Family
Support Workers offer group work to parents/carers including:
Triple P (Promoting Positive Parenting), Cooking Skills on a budget
(Get Cooking – Get Shopping), Positive Play for Families, Infant Baby
Massage and a drop in facility for Parents/Carers in The Church of
Nazerene, Burgher Street, Parkhead on Friday mornings to access
services, information and Life Skills.

The organisation during 2012 was involved with improving and
streamlining its internal structure and reporting through the
design, development and implementation of a bespoke database.
We are pleased to announce that this database is now live on
our system and the organisation can currently produce a profile
of the parents and children receiving a service including the
demographic information e.g. date of birth, address, ethnicity
and family structure etc. of families who receive all or any of our
services.
We can also produce reports per funder of all services which
have been provided to children and families from specific funding
streams. This database will enhance our ability to demonstrate
outcomes and increase our accountability to funders. The
database will continue to evolve along with our services.
The Big Lottery project ‘Making Connections for Families in Need’
reached the end of its first full year on 30 September 2012. This
project has not only met but exceeded its targets for the first year
and we would like to thank the Senior Family Support Worker
and the Lottery Co-ordinator for their commitment and hard work
during this first year.
The Making Connections for Families in Need project launched a
new approach to the way that we work with our families. Geeza
Break has learned that the holistic approach to supporting a family
with multidisciplinary staff working with children and adults in
parallel, and at times together, is effective and valued by families.
The indications so far from this work with children to enhance their
health and wellbeing outcomes, is more effective if reinforced
by working with parents to address their needs and help them
recognise how they can make a difference to their children’s future.
The Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS 3 year contract for intensive
specialised Family Support also reached the end of its first full year
during 12/13 financial year. This project also exceeded its targets
for the first year and we would like to thank the two part time and
one full time Family Support Workers for all their hard work and
commitment which has made this project such a success.
Cattanach Charitable Trust funding was awarded in March 2012.
The award was for 1 year to cover the costs of a part time Family
Support Worker post plus overhead costs. Intensive Family
Support under this funding started in April 2012. There is an
opportunity to apply for a further years cost. The RS Macdonald
funding was awarded in June 2012 for two years. Intensive Family
Support under this funding started in September 2012.
All the Family Support Workers have undertaken various training
courses during the course of 12/13 such as Triple P, Teens Triple
P and Baby Massage. This will mean that during 13/14 the Family
Support Workers will be able to run groups in these.
During 12/13, two Respite Sitters left the organisation but we were
successful in recruiting five additional Respite Sitters which at the
end of March 13 gave Geeza Break a bank of twenty Respite Sitters.
three Volunteer Respite Carers have successfully completed the
Social Work Services Competency Based Assessment process
and will be going to the Screening Panel in May 13. Respite Care
Director’s Report

The organisation has been very fortunate in securing for rental
from Parkhead Housing Association the old ‘Glasgow Savings
Bank’ building in the Gallowgate at Parkhead Cross. This has been
the major challenge of 2012. We moved into our new premises on
3rd August 2012.
One of the positives about our new location is the accessibility of
the service base to the local community and we hope to provide a
welcoming and comfortable space where we can meet and work
with families in group settings or one to one.
An Open Day, which was a great success, was held at the end
of August. We were privileged that not only did Elaine C Smith
agree to officially open our new premises but she also agreed to
become our Patron. We would like to give her a great big thanks
for this honour.
Although we have experienced many difficulties in our new
offices these have all been overcome thanks to the tenacity of all
the staff and we are now well settled in and enjoying the lovely
Rennie MacKintosh features and the additional space of our
new location.
Geeza Break’s services were inspected during October 2012 by
the Care Inspectorate and were awarded the following ratings:-
three Excellents and three Very Goods, which gave an overall
award of Very Good.
offers excellent experience for people who are interested in going
forward to be Respite Carers.
As in past years the organisation will continue to ensure that
service efficiency and effectiveness is continually monitored as
follows in order to:-
• Maintain budgets and reduce overhead costs
where possible
• Increase accountability to funders through new
accounting practices
• Monitor, manage and plan service delivery across all
our funders keeping service delivery within our allocated
funding budget
• Accurately extract data from the new bespoke Database
• Improve ways of assessing new volunteer carers
• Evaluate stress/anxiety in parents before and after
Respite. This is a way of assessing whether our respite
services have made a positive impact on the families who
receive our services
• Continue to have information stalls to raise awareness in
the local community of our services
Main Achievements

The quotes opposite have been extracted from the Care
Inspectorate 2012 report.
In February 2013 Geeza Break was privileged to be selected as
a finalist for the Team Award at the Evening Times Community
Champions East Awards. This gave the organisation much
welcomed publicity with the event extensively covered in the
Evening Times paper as well as the Evening Times website.
Unfortunately, we were not selected as the overall winner for
the Team Award but the team felt honoured at being selected as
finalists and already felt like winners.
During 12/13 the organisation renewed its certificate for the ISO
9001 quality standard.
Our two Respite Co-ordinators successfully completed their SVQ
4 Health and Social Care Children and Young People. This was a
major achievement as the course was completed while continuing
to work full time.
We have recently introduced new evaluation paperwork
which will be completed by the Respite Co-ordinators, Respite
Providers and families at the initial assessment for the service,
reviews of the service and again on closure of the service.
This new paperwork will allow the organisation to measure the
agreed aims/outcomes against the achieved outcomes of each
service that the family received.
We have developed competency based assessments for the
Respite Providers. This enhanced assessment will enable us to
focus more closely on areas of improvement for Respite Carers/
Sitters, thus increasing on overall quality of care and support.
“This service values children and families living
in the East End of Glasgow. It has very good
credibility in the local community.
Families welcome the non-intrusive
support offered to their family ....
The service have further developed all
quality assurance systems. This has shaped
person centred record keeping and delivery”
“The service provides an excellent break
to families experiencing difficulties or to
maintain a community presence.
The service is planned and children
are offered a meaningful session
with a designated sitter/carer.”

We have also enhanced our multilingual website by including
an educational portal for staff to pick up on information such as
mental health issues, challenging behaviours and so on.
In February 2013 Geeza Break launched the The Geeza Chance
Project for Kinship families funded by Young Start which will aim
to help young people feel better about themselves. We advertised
and recruited one part time Support Worker (20 hours per week)
who will befriend young people aged 8-14 years to provide
informal, one to one support and group work primarily focusing
on anger management, self-harm, alcohol, drugs, friendships,
building confidence and feeling less isolated.
The Geeza Chance project will operate Glasgow wide and will
take place between 4 and 8pm on weekdays and during the day at
weekends but will be more flexible during school holidays to meet
the needs of individual young people.
Financial Review
The charity made a surplus of £65,910 during the year, this
compares with £81,438 for the previous year. Income has
increased as the first full year of the Big Lottery Project took
effect. Most of the Statutory Funders continued to support the
charity with grants increasing in some cases. Finally our fund
raising team have been working to bring in significant and varied
amounts of funding, which has increased overall from last year.
This has been done at a difficult time for the third sector with
funding getting more difficult to achieve.
With the increase in the activities of the charity the expenditure
has increased to £642,086. The increase can be accounted for
due to increased staff and carers costs along with an increase in
the associated support costs.
During the year the charity moved to more suitable premises,
however some work still needs to be done and there remains
£11,278 in the premises reserve at the year end. Due to the
increase in the running costs the Trustees have increased
the designated reserves (to cover three months core activity
expenses) to £135,000. In addition £8,000 has been designated
by the Trustees for new IT equipment. Finally, the Trustees have
considered it prudent to designate a further £20,000 towards
redundancy costs given the current economic climate and on-
going funding issues within the third sector.
Future Plans
As stated earlier in the report three Respite Carers successfully
completed the Social Work Services Competency Based Assessment
process and went forward to the Screening Panel in May of this
year. All three were successful and have now started the induction
process. One of these Respite Carers will be a full time worker rather
than a volunteer and will work 5 days out of 7 each week providing
intense planned overnight packages of support to our vulnerable
clients.
The organisation will focus on the training and re-training of
staff (to keep them updated with changes in the care sector) by
attending courses to improve/develop/enhance services within the
organisation, thus leading to maximum client satisfaction. We will
facilitate personal growth by educating carers on related topics such
as attachment theory in babies and young children; first aid; Triple P
parenting strategies; and effective communication.

During the last year, as well as considering budgets,
communication, client’s satisfaction surveys, and increasing
efficiency; the Board of Directors have devoted time to examine
what we are doing successfully and what areas we need to
focus on in the coming year. The area’s that we will focus on for
2012/2013 are:
• To ensure sustainability
• Increase volunteer carers
• Increase holistic family support workers
• Evaluation of service delivery
• Succession planning
Our flexibility plays a big part in our service delivery as we focus
on client’s needs. Being available 24/7 through our intensive
support to our clients highlights our uniqueness, allowing our
CEO Report
Two additional members of staff will be working towards an SVQ
4 in Health and Social Care.
During2010aSocialReturnonInvestmentReportwasproducedwhich
showedthatourservicesgavegoodvalueformoney.Theprojectcanbe
regardedasverysuccessfulandmeetingtheneedsofitstargetaudience
inacosteffectivemannergeneratinganaverageof£277per£1spent
overthetwoyearsunderstudy.During2013/14theorganisationplans
toproduceanupdatedSocialReturnonInvestmentReport.
The organisation will also be during 13/14 updating its Sage
Accounting System to Sage 50 Accounts 2013 and redesigning and
updating the Geeza Break web site.
It is our intention to run a pilot parents drop in advice centre starting
in August 2013 and running for 16 weeks to December 2013.
We will invite various speakers to come along and talk about the
Welfare Reform Benefits, employability, housing, heating and safety
in the home. Groups such as Baby Massage, Triple P, Confidence
Building and Living Skills will be delivered at this advice centre.
As weareheadingintoourlastyearoffundingfromTheBigLotteryFundwe
hopeduringthisyeartosubmitanewapplicationtoTheBigLotteryFundfor
afurther3yearsfundingfor‘MakingConnectionsforFamiliesinNeed’.
As in past years the organisation will continue the good work
undertaken, consolidating the financial position and seeking to
increase the service where funds permit.
In Conclusion
This year we have faced challenges such as:-
• Sustainability due to the financial uncertainties which are
affecting all charities
• Managing the demands for services within allocated budgets
• Moving premises while keeping all services operational
We will continue to achieve our aims and outcomes for our
clients by ensuring appropriate standards of training (basic and
on-going), support and supervision, general operational practice,
communication, administration and management are maintained.
We will continue to improve our reporting through the on-going
development of our bespoke database which will enhance our ability
to demonstrate outcomes and increase accountability to funders.
In this very challenging year we have learned a lot and achieved
much under difficult circumstances. We hope in the coming year
to go from strength to strength and to be a service of choice for
clients in the North East of Glasgow.

clients to feel empowered, having positive values and support
to allow our clients to make healthy life choices. Clients are
encouraged and benefit from skills to interact effectively with
others either through a group setting or as individuals within the
local community.
We find with intensive support this encourages clients to cope
better with new situations, build on their confidence, enhance
their coping skills and believe in their own self-worth.
The North East of Glasgow will be faced with some challenging
times in the next few years with the Welfare Reform Changes
and it is even more important that local organisations, charities,
and groups work together to support the most vulnerable clients
through these difficult times.
A big thank you to the dedication and professionalism of our
volunteers, and the staff, who all make a valuable contribution to
services and supports that we offer to our clients
As well as the office relocating from Shettleston to Parkhead Cross, we
have had another busy year assessing families, co-ordinating respite
sitting and respite care sessions, promoting our services within the local
community and a range of other job related tasks as well as providing
intensive support to our ever growing pool of experienced respite
sitters and carers. We interviewed on two separate occasions this year
and carried out inductions for seven new respite sitters at the start of
The Respite Team
Brenda Connell & Jane Timoney
(Respite Co-ordinators)
September.Wenowhavetwentytworespitesittersandsixrespitecarers
withafurtherfourpeoplecurrentlygoingthroughtheassessmentprocess
tobecomerespitecarers.Wewouldliketothankalloftherespiteproviders
fortheirhardworkandcommitmenttotheorganisationoverthelastyear;
keepupthegoodwork!Aswellasourdaytodayresponsibilitiesweboth
successfullycompletedourSVQlevel4–HealthandSocialCare(Children
andYoungPeople) andarelookingforwardtoanotherbusyyearahead.
Family Support Team
Our dedicated team of Family Support Workers consists of:
• Lisa Maguire
• Debbie Hamilton
• Tracy Plant
• Patty Nelson
Our qualifications include: SVQ Level 3 Children’s Care, Learning
and Development, HNC Social Care, NC Child Care, First Aid,
Elementary Food Hygiene, Triple P Level 3 One to One, Triple P
Level 4 Group and Teen Group.
Our role is to provide intensive support to vulnerable families
within the East and North East of Glasgow affected by issues
such as Housing, Addictions, Crisis, Abuse, Poverty etc. by using
a person centred approach. As well as One to One support, we
offer a wide variety of group work opportunities such as:
• Get Cooking Get Shopping
• Triple P
• Positive Play
• Life Skills
• Infant Baby Massage

Nisa Shahul
Respite Admin
We are delighted to report that we secured a three year funding
contract with NHS which enabled us to both expand and develop
our team as well as increasing the number of families we were
able to support.
Within our roles and responsibilities, our team also work towards:
• Mentoring and supporting Social Work students
• Fundraising and organising events
• Establishing and maintaining good community links
• Partnership working with a multi-agency approach
• Working within the One Glasgow Framework
In August 2012 we moved into our new premises giving us a more
central location.
In May 2013 the organisation was successful in achieving The
Healthy Working Lives Bronze award and are now working
towards the Silver award.
The future is looking bright for the forthcoming year and we are
all looking forward to continuing providing support to our families
and seeing what this year brings.
After graduating with an MSc Forensic Psychology, I joined
Geeza Break as a Respite Administrator. I support respite co-
ordinators with all aspects of documentation from setting up
files to supporting respite providers with general information in
helping clients to achieve positive outcomes. I also undertake
assessments/reviews and unannounced monitoring checks of
service users and I am responsible for the database input. I have
developed a competency–based assessment for the respite
providers and a support plan for the Respite Coordinators, to aid
them in the execution of assessments. I have helped evaluate
questionnaires to find out whether the time out from the respite
would benefit families by measuring anxiety levels and to
see whether T.O.F.F.E.E. Club does have a positive impact on
children. I have entered Geeza Break for various competitions
such as the Care Accolades Award.
I have put together a self-contained information pack for service users
containing information on our services and policies and have improved
our paperwork such as referral forms. I have proposed the use of
Music Therapy and Jumping Clay by Respite Providers with children as
they are known to have a great positive impact on children.
I improved the website to a more user friendly portal where staff
can log in to access an E-Library of various Medical Conditions.
The challenges in the job coupled up with the experienced and
professionalism of colleagues, who make my learning process much
more lively; makes it all worthwhile working for the organisation.

Activity Based Respite
Jayne Doherty
(Young Persons Support Worker)
I am Jayne Doherty and I started with Geeza Break in February
2013 as Young Person’s Support Worker for the new Geeza
Chance project. With a background in childcare for over 10 years,
I am qualified to SVQ level 3 in Childrens Care Learning and
Development. This is my first job in social care and I have found it to
be at times difficult and frustrating but mostly very rewarding. The
project supports young people aged 8-14 years who are in kinship
care, by providing them with activities away from home , which also
provides much needed respite for permanent carers. The young
people get the chance to sample different activities and choose what
they want to take part in, they should by the end of the 12 sessions
have a new hobby or activity to continue with. They also get a chance
to take part in group workshops based on issues that affect them.
In the initial weeks I had to create paper work, do community
research and fact finding in order to plan the respite sessions. In
the first four months I have supported seven families and eleven
children, the children have taken part in various activities and
accessed local youth groups swimming pools, parks and visitor
attractions, including the science centre, riverside museum,
bowling, ice skating and cinema. Some of them have taken part
in arts and craft session in the local library and a science fair.
The children took part in group work shops over three sessions.
These were, confidence and self esteem, anger management and
happiness restoration, and building positive relationships and trust.
These sessions were facilitated by Kevin Brannigan of Kevstars.
(Time Out for Families East End) delivered in partnership
with Mobile Play Team
The T.O.F.F.E.E. Club provides respite for young disadvantaged
children experiencing crisis family situations, such as chaotic
lifestyles. This is often due to their parent’s addictions or who
care for a parent/guardian who may have mental health issues, a
disability or misuse drugs and/or alcohol.
The organisation recognises the effect that these kinds of situations
have on young children from being isolated from their friends to
not having much time for leisure activities. To support these young
children Geeza Break offers the T.O.F.F.E.E. Club which is a centre
based resource predominantly offering play activities as an escape
during the school holiday period, allowing the children to be
children and enabling interaction with other children.
Through the T.O.F.F.E.E. Club, primary school children between
the ages of 5 and 12 years are cared for during school holidays
for an 9 week period (two weeks in Easter, six weeks in Summer
and 1 week in October). The T.O.F.F.E.E. Club provides a safe and
supported environment for the children to play.
When children play they are developing their physical fitness, co-
ordination, abilities to reason, solve problems, make new friends
and develop social skills. They are also forming relationships,
Centre Based Respite
Sandra Anderson
(T.O.F.F.E.E. Club Co-ordinator)

learning about the world around them, taking on new challenges
and having new experiences; as well as having fun.
Geeza Break is confident that our play provision fosters children’s
independence and self-esteem as well as developing children’s respect
for others. Our play provision supports the children’s well-being,
healthy growth and helps development and increase knowledge and
understanding that promotes creativity and the capacity to learn.
The children play and learn through activities such as gym,
football, dancing, dressing up, arts and crafts, playing pool,
board games and Wii games such as tennis and bowling. They
also have visits from the Community Police, Fire Brigade and the
Zoo Lab with small creatures. The children also have quiet areas
where they read books, learn puzzles, word searches and various
educational activities.
When children first attend the T.O.F.F.E.E. Club they are often shy and
hold back but after attending a few sessions and being involved with
interacting team games their confidence grows and this is measured by
visually watching their involvement in the activities. The children make
friends and learn to play and share and be respectful of each other.
Activities
Throughout the summer programme we had planned various
themes which would be running through the six weeks, from
a Pirate theme to World Record based themes. We also try
to incorporate more of an educational based theme in our
programme which included Sci-Fi & Planets as well as a trip
through the Centuries. We were fortunate enough to access
money which enabled us to take the children on much needed
trips. Some of the places we managed to visit were tied in with
the specific themes we had been doing from week to week such
as a trip to Summerlee Heritage Park which linked in perfectly
with our Centuries based theme and swimming which tied in with
our Olympic theme. There was also an outing to Blair Drummond
Safari Park, cinema outings and trips to parks.
Healthy Snacks
Geeza Break developed a partnership with Kids & Co. which
enabled the Mobile Play Team to deliver healthy snacks of fruit
and milk to the children at St. Anne’s and Aultmore Park each
day of the T.O.F.F.E.E. Club. Kids and Co. supplied the fruit and
milk on a weekly basis and Geeza Break will continue to work in
partnership with them during future sessions.
St. Anne’s Primary School
St. Anne’s T.O.F.F.E.E. Club enabled Geeza Break to provide 35
places per day for the Summer T.O.F.F.E.E. Club. Geeza Break,
the Mobile Play Team and the staff at St. Anne’s continued to
enjoy a good working relationship which provided for a successful
Summer session. Geeza Break also kept the school up to date on
any developments. There were no concerns over St. Anne’s and
the Mobile Play Team was very happy with the staff and assistance
received at St. Anne’s during the Summer session.
Aultmore Park Primary School
This year Geeza Break have sourced an additional school (Aultmore
Park Primary School in Easterhouse). Schools and Community

Centres in the Easterhouse area were assessed and after careful
consideration it was agreed that Aultmore Park was ideally suited to
the needs of the T.O.F.F.E.E. Club. There were various reasons that
Aultmore Park was chosen. Firstly, the location was ideal as it was
situated in the preferred location (Easterhouse) . Aultmore Park is
also easily accessible as it is not far from Edinburgh Road and there
are several bus routes that pass by or near to where the school is
located. Good access to equipment and storage was a factor as was
the security system at the school.
The Easter Holidays were the first ever holiday T.O.F.F.E.E. Club
period at Aultmore Park Primary School and we used the school
again for the Summer Holiday Club which enabled Geeza Break
to provide a further 24 places per day for the Summer T.O.F.F.E.E.
Club. There were no concerns over Aultmore Park and the Mobile
Play Team was very happy with the staff and assistance received
at Aultmore Park during the Summer session.
Out of School Services – City Wide
Geeza Break also provide places within 24 other Out of School
Service Providers for children who are unable to attend either St
Anne’s or Aultmore Park due to distance. As part of our review
of quality standards, announced visits were carried out. These
visits are an essential part of ensuring that the children are getting
a quality service in an enjoyable, relaxing atmosphere and a safe,
secure and stimulating environment and are happy and having
fun. The Kinship families really benefit from this support during
the school holidays.
Kinship Group
Visits were also made to Kinship Groups. Grandparents and
extended family members who have sole care of children through
parental addiction, meet fortnightly to discuss issues and offer
support to each other. The purpose of the visits were to introduce
ourselves and to explain the services in more detail which Geeza
Break offer.
Working within budgets and constant communication with
families and providers is essential to ensuring that places are filled
and children enjoy the experience.
Attendance of the children has been very good this year and as
shown on the Evaluation Forms, all had a great time.
Kinship Carers are defined as family members or close friends
who take on the sole care of a child/children because the birth
parents are unable to do so.
Geeza Break working in partnership with Family Addiction
Support Service (FASS) & funded by Glasgow Addiction Services
offer support to families affected by a loved one’s alcohol or
Kinship Care
Audrey Platt
(FASS Link Worker)

drug misuse. Our Respite Co-ordinators, T.O.F.F.E.E. Club
Coordinator & FASS Link Worker deliver the Second Generation
Care service for Kinship families Glasgow citywide. The criteria
for this service: is Carers who have the sole care of a child due to
parental addiction & are living within a Glasgow Local Authority
area. There is no need to have active Social Work involvement to
access the service. Agency or self-referrals are accepted.
The aim of the service is to give Kinship Carers a break from their
childcare responsibilities while at the same time offering a positive
and enjoyable experience for children and young people. Geeza
Break & FASS have been providing respite and support services to
families for over twenty one years and are fully aware of the needs
of children and families who have been affected by addiction
issues. Families outwith the North East of Glasgow can choose
one of the following preferred services:
We can offer one of four types of respite depending on families’
own circumstances and preferences and they are as follows:
Respite Care: Children are cared for at the home of fully vetted
and assessed respite carers for periods varying from a few hours
through to overnight care – one overnight session per month.
Respite Sitting: Children are cared for in their own home by
fully vetted respite sitters to allow the family members to go out –
one session per fortnight.
Centre Based Respite: Provided during Easter, Summer and
October holidays from a variety of local halls/schools throughout
the city. This service is delivered in partnership with other
registered childcare providers who are knowledgeable about their
areas – two to three sessions per week.
Activity Based Respite: The Young Person’s Support Worker
provides a high quality Befriending service to children aged
between 8-14 years who are looked after by Kinship Carers. One
to one support and group work are offered between 4 – 8pm on
weekdays and during the day at weekends and school holidays.
The young people are accompanied to low cost local community
clubs and activities over a 12 week period. The aim is to achieve
positive outcomes for the young people to make better life
choices, and improve health and well-being.
Our Link Worker provides support, advice and information on the
following:
• Offers one-to-one personal, professional &
confidential support
• Sign-posts Kinship Carers to identified services based on need
• Produces information on specific Kinship support services
• Provides opportunities to access respite services & local
Kinship groups
• Facilitates parenting skills group work programmes
Besides the Link Worker support, FASS also provides other support:
Counselling, Hypnotherapy, Clothing Project, Kinship & Family
support group membership, for group members – respite breaks
at our caravan, alternative stress therapies, monthly members
meetings & training opportunities. FASS also have Bereavement
& Moving On groups & hold an annual Ecumenical Service. FASS
can be contacted on: 0141 420 2050.

Cathy Melrose (Senior Family Support Worker) and Ed Inglis
(Lottery Coordinator) have worked very hard at developing
and delivering this service offered by Geeza Break which has
included training of staff, publicity and advertising, networking
and developing partnership working with other agencies as well
as getting the service itself up and running.
The past year has been a big learning curve. As a new service we
have had to adapt very quickly and overcome numerous challenges
to make sure that we offer the excellent service that we strive for.
All of this work has meant that this past year has flown by.
Developing and delivering the service has also provided
opportunities to learn about the most effective ways to work
with vulnerable families experiencing crisis in the North East
of Glasgow and improve their confidence, parenting skills
and aspirations. The project has provided a range of respite
provision and support for each of the families we have worked
with including Respite Sitting, Respite Care, Family Support and
T.O.F.F.E.E. Club.
Big Lottery Funded
‘Making Connections For Families In Need’
Cathy Melrose & Ed Inglis
(Support Workers)
The project has piloted, as well as adapted, current Geeza Break
methods and approaches of working with vulnerable families
which have succeeded in engaging a number of families in a way
which has led to progress towards positive outcomes.
Although the last year has been hard work, with many challenges,
we are very proud of the service we have established and the help
and support that the ‘Making Connections for Families in Need’
team have offered the families who use the service.
We are constantly looking at ways to improve every aspect of
the ‘Making Connections for Families In Need’ service and look
forward to continue working with the families who need it.

Accounts

GeezaBreak’sgoalistoimprovethequalityoflifeforlocalvulnerable
childrenandfamiliesbyreducingstress,crisisandisolationthrough
providingarangeofrespiteandsupportservices.Inrecentyears,
communityandfamilylifehaschangedwithmanyparentshavinglittleor
nocontactwithotherfamilymembers,leavingbothparentsandchildren
extremelyisolatedandvulnerable,particularlyintimesofcrisis.This
stressiscompoundeduponintheNorthandEastofGlasgow,where
GeezaBreakoperates.Thisarearemainsoneofthepoorestareasin
Scotlandwith7outof20ofthemostdeprivedareasinScotlandlocated
withinit’sboundaries.
In2012,Glasgowhadthehighestpercentageofchildrenlivingin
povertyamongtheeightlocalauthoritiesofGlasgowandClydeValley.
TheGlasgowrateof33%wasmorethanthreetimeshigherthaninEast
DunbartonshireandEastRenfrewshire.Thisfigureisthehighestamong
Scotland’smajorcities;forexample,itismorethantwicetheratein
AberdeenandalmostdoublethatofEdinburgh.
There are a variety of problems consistent with multiple deprivation
including high levels of unemployment with many parents relying
on Job Seeker’s Allowance, Incapacity/Severe Disability Pay, Child
Tax/Pension Tax Credits, and/or out of work benefits to survive. The
estimated percentage of children in workless households in Glasgow in
2012 was 22%.
InNovember2010moreboysthangirlsweresupportedbySocialWork
ServicesacrossthewholecityofGlasgow.52%ofchildrensupported
Characteristics of Families and Services
wereboys,numbering5,401,and45%weregirls(4,711).Thisgender
gapisapparentacrossthethreeSocialWorkAreaswithinGlasgow,
ineachofwhichmoreboysthangirlsreceivedsupport.Glasgow
consistentlyhasarateofchildrenreferredthatismorethan50%higher
thanthecomparableScottishrate.In2010/11Glasgow’srateof75
childrenper1,000ofthepopulationis74%higherthantheScottishrate
of43%.Glasgowhadmorethan3,500lookedafterchildrenat31stJuly
2010-anumberfarhigherthananyotherlocalauthorityinthecountry.
Thisequatesto3%ofthechildpopulation,thehighestrateofany
authoritywithinScotlandandmorethandoubletheScottishaverageof
1.4%.
MorechildreninGlasgow(43%)andacrossScotland(44%)areonthe
ChildProtectionRegisterbecauseofphysicalneglectthanforanyother
reason.Relativelyfewareregisteredbecauseofsexualabuse(8%inboth
GlasgowandScotland)andhardlyanybecauseoffailuretothriveor
reasonsnotknown(1%forGlasgowonly).
Theproportionofchildrenlivinginhouseholdswithworkingageadults,
whereatleastoneadulthasadisability,wasoneandahalftimeshigherin
Glasgow(12%)thantheScottishaverage(8%)in2007/08.TheGlasgow
figurewasalsomorethandoublethatofAberdeen(4%)andEdinburgh
(5%)andmarginallyhigherthanDundee(11%).Allfiguresquotedwere
takenfromwww.understandingglasgow.com/indicators/children.
Experiencehasshownthatfamiliesarenotaffectedbyjustonesingle
issue;theyhavemanyverycomplexdifficultiestodealwith.Thisincludes

Table 1: shows the number of families and children that Geeza Break worked
with against each respite service during the period 1 April 2012 to 31 March
2013. Please note that the numbers are cumulative as some families and
children received more than one service.
Table 2: shows the ages at point of referral and gender of the 519 children
who received Respite Services from Geeza Break during the period 1 April
2012 to 31 March 2013. Please note that all children were only counted
once even if they received more than one of our services.
statebenefits,health,housingaswellasalltheotherdailydramasof
beingaparent. Changeisalwaysadifficultissuetodealwithandreally
impactsoneveryonearound,inparticularchildren.Parentsandchildren
needtobesupportedthroughthechangeprocess.GeezaBreakworks
along-sideothersupportservicestoensurefamiliesaretrulysupported
tomakeapositivechangeintheirlives.
Service No. Families No. Children
Respite Sitting 144 272
Respite Care 33 49
Centre Based
(T.O.F.F.E.E. Club) 203 289
Table 1
Ages of Children No. of Children Male Female
0 - 4 120 67 53
5 - 8 216 123 93
9 - 12 153 92 61
13 - 16 30 18 12
Total 519 300 219
Table 2
Table 3 shows the Referral Sources, Table 4 shows the Referral Areas
and Table 5 shows the Family Status for the 317 Families who received
a respite service from 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013. Please note that
families were only counted once even if they received more than one of
our services.
No. of
Referral Areas Families
Baillieston 11
Barlanark 7
Barrowfield 2
Bridgeton 24
Budhill 1
Calton 7
Camlachie 1
Carmyle 5
Carntyne 17
Craigend 1
Cranhill 9
Dennistoun 14
Easterhouse 40
Gallowgate 7
Garrowhill 2
Garthamlock 6
Greater Easterhouse 17
Greenfield 11
Haghill 10
Mount Vernon 3
Outwith North East CCP 43
Parkhead 21
Riddrie 7
Ruchazie 1
Sandyhills 5
Shettleston 20
Springboig 8
Tollcross 16
Townhead 1
Total 317
Table 4
No. of
Referral Source Families
Addictions 1
Children & Families 61
Community Organisation 22
Education 15
FASS 12
Health Board 31
PACT 2
Self-Referral 177
Social Work 16
Total 337
Table 3
Family Status No. of Families
Grandparent 5
1 Parent 174
2 Parent 67
Other Relation 71
Total 317
Table 5

The T.O.F.F.E.E. Club provided a service to children during the Easter
school holidays, 6 weeks of the Summer school holidays and the October
week school holidays. The figures below also include Out of School
places which were purchased under the T.O.F.F.E.E. Club. Table 7: shows
the statistical information for the T.O.F.F.E.E. Club during 2012:-
Table 6: shows the statistical information for the Respite Sitting and
Respite Care services during the year 12/13:-
Service Sessions Nights
Respite Care 455 432
Respite Sitting 3336 0
Total 3791 432
Period Sessions Hours
Easter 654 3270
Summer 2982 14910
October 259 1295
Emergency 0 0
Total 3895 19475
Table 6
Table 7
Table 8 shows the Referral Sources, Table 9 shows the Referral Areas
and Table 10 shows the Family Status for the 117 families who received
the Family Support service from 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013.
Referral Source No. of
Families
Addictions 1
Children & Families 44
Community Organisation 16
FASS 1
Health Board 29
Self-Referral 30
Social Work 19
140
Table 8
No. of
Referral Areas Families
Baillieston 6
Barlanark 2
Bridgeton 5
Budhill 1
Calton 2
Carmyle 1
Carntyne 9
Craigend 1
Cranhill 6
Dalmarnock 1
Dennistoun 9
Easterhouse 9
Gallowgate 4
Garrowhill 1
Garthamlock 1
Greater Easterhouse 4
Greenfield 3
Haghill 4
Outwith North East CCP 2
Parkhead 13
Provanmill 1
Riddrie 1
Sandyhills 1
Shettleston 14
Springboig 3
Springburn 1
Tollcross 10
Townhead 2
117
Table 9
Family Status No. of Families
One Parent 79
Two parents 34
Other relation 4
117
Table 10

Ages of Children No. of Children Male Female
0 - 4 102 51 51
5 - 8 64 36 28
9 - 12 39 26 13
13 - 16 24 11 13
Total 229 124 105
Table 11
Table 11: shows the ages at point of referral and gender of the 229 children
whose parents received Intense one to one Family Support from Geeza
Break during the period 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013.
The main reasons for referral were parental addictions and mental
health problems and a need for input to help with household
management, routines and caring skills. A large number of those
referred had low self-confidence, problematic family relationships
and were lacking in social supports.
For many parents daily life was characterised by difficulties
associated with poverty, inadequate and insecure housing and a
struggle to provide emotional, social and educational support for
their children. This was particularly so for parents whose own
needs had not been met, for whom there was little support from
family and friends and who could see no glimmer of hope for a
way out of their difficulties for themselves or their children.
The extent of some parents’ difficulties was such that intensive
input was required from Family Support Workers and staff from
partnership agencies over an extended period of time in order to
address some of the impact of these problems.

Our heartfelt thanks to all our funders.
Glasgow City Council Social Work Services, Glasgow City Council Integrated Grants Fund, Glasgow City Council Addictions,
Greater Glasgow & Clyde NHS, The Big Lottery, Young Start,Communities and Families Fund, Robertson Trust, Short Breaks,
Creative Breaks, Better Breaks, Cash for Kids, RS McDonald Charitable Trust, BBC Children in Need.
We would also like to acknowledge all fundings, grants, donations and gifts which are mentioned in our audited accounts.
All were warmly received and we are extremely grateful..
Further Information
If you would like any further information about any of our services,
or feel that you or your family could benefit from support from Geeza Break,
please contact us at the office (details below).
If you think you could offer support to local families,
we would also be delighted to hear from you.
Office Hours are: Monday – Thursday – 9am-5pm Friday – 9am-4pm
Geeza Break
Geeza Break 1450-1456 Gallowgate, Parkhead, Glasgow G31 4ST
Tel: 0141 573 2900 Fax: 0141 573 2789 Email: info@geezabreak.org.uk Website: www.geezabreak.org.uk
Geeza Break is supported by Glasgow Community Planning Partnership,
Glasgow City Council and Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS
Part Funded

Geeza Break Annual Report 2012, 2013

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