The Glasgow Intensive Family Support Service (GIFSS) celebrated its one-year anniversary at an event held at the Banqueting Hall in Glasgow’s City Chambers back in October 2022. 

Our Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership’s (HSCP) GIFSS is a support service for families going through tough times and may be at risk of being accommodated. GIFSS works as a collaboration with our HSCP, Aberlour, Action for Children, Right There and Includem, who work in partnership to provide support to families across the city.  

The service recognises that families are experts in their own lives and helps to address challenges by identifying their strengths and building a plan considering the needs and perspectives of all family members. The team believes that all families have assets and capabilities that can be used to foster hope and inspire meaningful change. Applying their ‘Voice, Validation and Hope’ model, the focus is to keep families together and move forward in ways that work best for everyone. 

The event was an opportunity for staff and partners to come together to celebrate the achievements of GIFSS during its first year. The ‘All Star Conference’ was opened by Mike Burns, our HSCP’s Assistant Chief Officer for Children’s Services and North East Operations, with a presentation about GIFSS and the positive impact it has had on implementing The Promise in Glasgow City.

GIFSS was set up in 2021 after a gap in service provision was identified for a small number of young people on the edge of care. These young people, aged 12 years and over, required intensive and flexible support that was available also in the evening and at weekends.

As part of a city-wide service across Glasgow, the service now promotes the wellbeing of children and young people and supports them to stay at home and thrive with their families and their local communities. 

Karen Dyball, our HSCP’s Head of Planning (Children’s Services and North East Locality), said: “It was such an incredible opportunity to come together to celebrate the one-year anniversary of GIFSS. The collaboration across the partners has worked really well, and all the work and achievements they accomplished in this short time are worth celebrating. Families are feeding back that their involvement with the service is making a real difference.”