How it works
The Pathfinder is wider than just our organisation, it functions as a collective, with resources (human and financial) pooled from different agencies. Our team includes workers employed by schools and colleges, Birmingham Children’s Trust and local voluntary and community sector organisations. The collective is continually developing. Over time this builds a much more effective, more efficient and more systemic response to the challenges faced by children and families.
We want the Pathfinder values and way of working to become ‘business as usual’. Welcoming organisations into our collective and working together is an effective way to spread and embed them.
We have a community interest company (Birmingham Pathfinder CIC), which functions as a ‘backbone’ organisation for the Pathfinder ecosystem.
Our Partners
Twenty-eight schools, predominately in the Northfield district of Birmingham, are currently part of the Pathfinder ecosystem. They include primaries, secondaries, and special schools.
The Pathfinder recognises the significance and value of the years that children spend in school. Working through schools means we can build on existing expertise and relationships in school and offer sustained support to families for the whole duration of a child’s school career.
The Pathfinder can provide schools with a more complete picture of a family’s challenges. It can allow the time, skills and knowledge to work at the family’s pace and help schools maintain relationships, respond effectively to safeguarding concerns and continue communication.
We welcome enquiries about the Pathfinder model.
School Feedback
- “One of the most impressive things about the Pathfinders both in-school and the central team is how they manage to find the right people/resources to support these differing needs. Perhaps the most important thing for me is how the coordinators engage with the school and the parents. I feel confident to message the Pathfinder team for advice about a family, knowing that a response would be swift and accurate”.
- “Our Pathfinder member of staff has had ongoing, high quality support from the Pathfinder team to ensure that she has the skills and knowledge to be able to effectively help both pupils and parents/carers. We can see clear progression from the pupils that our Pathfinder works with particularly in their attendance to school but also our relationships with hard to reach parents. Pathfinder has been a life saver for us, bridging the gap between support that social services can offer and the support that we can offer as a pastoral team in school.”
- “I would commend without reservation, the Pathfinder model to all school leaders, and have no doubt it has enhanced the lives of the Lumen Christi school community, helping to strengthen family foundations and to improve children’s access and success in their education”
- “We have demonstrable evidence of where the support that Pathfinder have provided to families has made a powerful difference to their lives and to the children’s lived experiences, enabling them to have a much brighter future”
- “We have worked closely with Pathfinder for the past 18 months. The Pathfinder model has helped many of our families, some of whom had complex needs, and were really struggling at the beginning of their Pathfinder journey. Most of these families have been empowered to change and improve their lives for the better so they no longer require any support or just have a ‘light touch’ approach. The children in these families are now thriving”
- “Our experience with the Pathfinder model has been incredibly positive. The team who work alongside school in ensuring a positive impact with our most vulnerable families, significantly improving the quality of their lives. Those who engage with the Pathfinder model have experienced a great number of challenges in their lives – they are often the most vulnerable families who have historically struggled to engage with school and other professionals. Most often, the family’s needs require unpacking – professionally and with compassion – over an extended period of time. Pathfinder has developed how we engage with these families, reaching out in ways other professionals simply are unable to, building strong relationships and assisting in a variety of ways”
- “Pathfinders fits in perfectly with our ethos and we feel it has benefited our community in so many ways- it has also increased school capacity and brought a slightly different perspective”
We are partly funded by Birmingham Children’s Trust, who have supported the Pathfinder since the outset.
Several of our workers are employed by the Trust, including our strategic lead, and founder, Rob McCabe. We are part of the Early Help offer in the city and plugged into the Trust’s case management and data collection systems.
Lankelly Chase Foundation were stalwart supporters and fellow travellers from 2016 when they begin funding our work, until they ceased operating as a traditional funder in 2023 and Cathy Stancer – one of our original grant managers from Lankelly Chase – has now joined the Pathfinder team providing strategic support to our core team. An interview with Rob about the relationship between Lankelly and the Pathfinder can be seen on the foundation’s legacy website.
We have also had substantial support over the years from the West Midlands Violence Reduction Partnership and the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner’s office; and historically we have had strong partnership links with West Midlands Fire Station and were co-located at Kings Norton Fire Station from 2017 – 2021.
We are currently supported by the The JABBS Foundation for Women and Girls, the national youth homelessness charity Centrepoint and the National Lottery Community Fund.
Voluntary and community sector partners, and local sporting organisations are important members of the Pathfinder, bringing specific expertise and resources. In most cases, organisations provide co-located posts in the Pathfinder’s core team, though in some cases collaboration is around specific projects in schools or other settings.
- Alvechurch Football Club (AFC) – We have been working with AFC since 2022. AFC want to extend their community work in South Birmingham, particularly aligned with their plans to develop a new ground in the Northfield district of the city. Initial work has included football/fitness activities for Pathfinder families, and other plans involve in-school football sessions for pupils and organising a Pathfinder inter-schools football competition. The club’s plans are ambitious and reach beyond engagement through football and for Pathfinder to be a key part of realising AFC’s new training facility at The Hayes as a significant community asset.
- Birmingham Citizen’s Advice Bureau (BCAB) – The Pathfinder has two BCAB advisers based with the Pathfinder Core team at our office at St Nicholas Place. Appointments are offered to families at the Pathfinder office and in schools.
- Aquarius – Aquarius bring specialist substance misuse expertise into the Pathfinder ecosystem. Clare Williams (Pathfinder Operational Lead) is seconded from Aquarius, and works to ensure substance misuse work is coordinated across Pathfinder schools and benefits from the full range of services offered by Aquarius.
- Spring to Life – Spring to Life provide counselling services to individual parents as well as small group work on trauma and how it is felt in the body.
- Kapella – Kapella provide CBT and Systemic Family Practice for Pathfinder families in selected schools.
- St. Basil’s – St. Basil’s are a homeless charity; and have been a significant leader in the region for psychologically informed environment (PIE) approaches (and training). Pathfinder staff are trained in Psychologically Informed Environments – a foundation stone of Pathfinder practice. Pathfinder staff are also trained to deliver Non-Violent Resistance (NVR) Training through Forward Thinking Birmingham; and PIE and NVR courses are offered to family cohorts across Pathfinder schools.
- The West Midlands Multibank – Provide donations of goods including household items and clothing to Pathfinder families.
- The Hygiene Bank – Provide donated cleaning and personal hygiene products to Pathfinder families.
Our Testimonials
Kind words families and other stakeholders have said about us:
“What [he] has done is just been there as an emotional support, which is what I needed at the time whether I knew it or not.” – Mum
“I don’t really trust professionals but I am sharing things with you that I have not shared with anyone else.” – Dad
“It is good to be working alongside Pathfinder to be able to help build the resilience of families we are working with.” – School