Our Work

The VRP’s Criminal Justice work aims to develop trusted relationships and collaboration across the criminal justice sector, supporting the development of good practice and appropriate data sharing, whilst also promoting evidence-led approaches to reducing violence; particularly violence involving young people under the age of 25. We commission targeted resettlement, pre-court diversion and focused deterrence services that reaches children, young people and adults who are associated with serious violence and criminality in the West Midlands. We’re also overseeing a pilot project supporting children and families impacted by parental imprisonment in Birmingham.

Working with health providers and Integrated Care Boards, we aim to strengthen the data provided by health services to enhance our understanding of violence and its root causes. As well as this, another key strand of work in this space is the delivery of training to health professionals.
We also work to test new approaches to violence prevention and reduction within health settings; for example, placing youth workers in Accident and Emergency departments to provide specialist support to children and young people when they have experienced violence, with the aim of preventing further incidents.

The VRP’s exploitation work strand aims to ensure that there are robust and effective systems in place across the West Midlands to prevent, identify and respond to vulnerability and exploitation. The delivery aims to influence the development of regional pathways, policies and protocols to ensure a coherent and consistent response to safeguarding those most at risk of or experiencing exploitation and build a community of practice and sector led improvement frameworks. We commission a gender specific service to support young females at risk, on the periphery, or entrenched within exploitation. Working 

Working with education partners and stakeholders across the region we promote a whole life course approach to violence and harm prevention, which includes offering intervention, training and character education at the earliest opportunity (early years and foundation stage) right through to post-16 and further and higher education. We work with partners to develop trauma informed approaches and inclusive education, reduce exclusions and increase attendance.

VRP universal prevention programmes already reach thousands of professionals and children each month, with the aim to increase our reach this year. We offer support to school leaders to develop long-term violence prevention plans for their settings, to minimise reactive approaches and enhance consistency.

Recognising the critical role sport can play in the lives of children and young people, we work with national charity Streetgames as well as sports providers across the West Midlands with the aim of:

• Growing the number of high-quality sport providers in the West Midlands most deprived and vulnerable communities, which contributes to the prevention of violence.
• Enhancing the confidence, competence and capacity of the sport workforce to ensure high quality delivery which is pro-social in its approach, and embeds the principles of trauma informed practice.
• Increasing the number of vulnerable children & young people who are meaningfully and successfully, referred into sport through evidence-based, multi-agency referral pathways.
• Developing and growing the evidence base for sport as a violence reduction intervention.

By embracing trauma informed practices, we can provide more inclusive support, education and intervention for children and young people; one that cultivates empathy and emotional safety in order to support the reduction of trauma-related responses, which can go on to reduce the risk of violence. We are working with Barnardo’s to deliver this important work across the region, as well as key partners. Our approach seeks to:

• Equip the children and young people’s workforce: We offer regional awareness-raising and evidence-based training programmes for professionals. The training aims to increase understanding of trauma, it’s potential impact(s), and how we can support recovery from trauma.
• Collaborative leadership: We work with key partners and stakeholders to streamline trauma informed practice across the region, for example, delivering a large training project within West Midlands Police focused on trauma informed policing.
• Sustainable implementation: We support organisations to go beyond an awareness of trauma to create environments that strive to promote meaningful, culturally sensitive and sustainable trauma informed practice that can enhance outcomes for children, young people, their families and the community

The VRP are committed to ending male violence against women and girls by working with VAWG partnerships across localities to ensure effective approaches to violence prevention and reduction, and by supporting local area action planning to respond to the bespoke needs of places and ensure a focus on VAWG.

We work very closely with the Education team at the VRP, to ensure a consistent approach to tackling VAWG. This is achieved by working in partnership to provide education to children and young people around misogyny, consent, toxic masculinity, healthy relationships and more. Through testing, monitoring and evaluating the impacts of this work we can assess what works and uplift programmes and intervention. As well as the work we do with children and young people, another key area of work in this space is the delivery of VAWG training to professionals across the region.

The funding for the VRP and other key programmes of work is currently due to end in March 2025.  We are developing a sustainability plan which seeks to set out the current position in terms of violence prevention work and how we will ensure that the systems across the region are in a good position to continue to:

• Support system leaders to understand and apply a public health approach to violence prevention
• Create a wealth of regionally specific research about interventions to prevent and reduce serious violence
• Monitor the impact of projects and interventions
• Deliver training
• Upskill other professionals
• Support other VRUs
• Support a partnership approach to serious incidents in communities
• Produce toolkits and resources
• Support local violence reduction partnerships
• Share good practice and evidence emerging nationally, regionally and locally
• Prevent and reduce violence and improve the lives of children and young people.