£1.5m Lotto grant boosts work to help families (From Oxford Mail)

£1.5m Lotto grant boosts work to help families

9:20am Monday 14th May 2012 in Oxford

Lottery funding of £1.5m has been awarded to Oxford Brookes University to help tackle substance abuse and antisocial behaviour in young people.

The investment from the Big Lottery Fund will allow the university’s Strengthening Families Programme to be rolled out to new areas of the UK, with a particular focus on Muslim families.

The project will build on the programme’s previous work with families with children aged 10 to 14.

The seven-week programme aims to reduce alcohol and drug use, and behavioural problems in adolescence.

It involves discussions, games and activities with families in a bid to strengthen communication between family members and avoid problems developing.

Senior lecturer in adult community nursing Dr Debbie Allen said: “We are reaching out to families through the programme and we have already trained hundreds of others to do so.”

l In a separate project, Oxford University has announced the creation of a new centre to conduct research into how to improve the lives of foster children and children in care.

The centre, the Oxford University Rees Centre for Research in Fostering and Education, is a collaboration between the university’s Department of Education and the Core Assets Group.

For more information about the Brookes project, see mystrongfamily.org