Understanding and Addressing the Concurrent Needs of Families Living in the Colin Area: A Secondary Analysis of the Colin Early Intervention Community Report Card Data’

Previous reviews of whole family support services have found that family members often experience multiple issues but responses to those issues vary greatly, are often bespoke and lack a strong evidence base (Batty, 2014). To address the complex social issues which families experience, there has been an explosion of interest around ‘what works’ (Olsson, 2010) data over recent years to help us understand how best to improve outcomes for families. But whilst there has been a growth in evidence-based approaches (Mihalic, 2007), these are normally targeted at specific populations ([Author 1] & Doherty, 2016) for narrow but well-defined issues (Aarons & Palinkas, 2007). The reality, as we know, is that families are complex systems comprising of individuals, who interact in even more complex systems and interventions are not designed in ways that acknowledge these complexities (Guastaferro et al, 2017). Practitioners understand that for many families, crises can arise at any time and often exacerbate pre-existing challenges. These might include a range of practical issues but also more complex psycho-social challenges. Financial issues can be common, but some families also experience trauma, abuse, addiction, incarceration and ill health, often several at once (Lee et al, 2017). In one Northern Ireland review, families experienced an average of four issues concurrently ([Author 1] & Doherty, 2016).