Schools

What can you do to help a child who is isolated because of their disability,behaviour or simply because they are new to the school or community?

Circle of Friends is an approach to enhancing the inclusion, in a mainstream setting, of any young person who is experiencing difficulties in school because of a disability, personal crisis or because of their behaviour that challenges others. The 'circle of friends' approach works by mobilising the young person's peers to provide support and engage in problem solving with the child at risk of exclusion socially.

The "Circle of Friends" technique is based on inclusion rather than exclusion and works by looking at the difficulty the child has in their social life and by involving their classmates to help them rebuild their social circle.This ultimately leads to the childs behaviour being understood and accepted by others, which will enable them to get on better with their peers. Obviously this in turn helps them to rebuild a peer group relationship and to continue to work on problems that will lead to more acceptance and inclusion rather than exclusion from these groups. This approach intentionally addresses the issues of social isolation, loneliness and the sense of belonging in the focus child.

A major advantage of the approach is that it does not involve a major commitment of time from teaching staff. This is because the true work is done by the peers themselves, not the adults. The adult's role is to meet with the circle and the focus child for around 20-30 minutes weekly to facilitate their problem solving in the early stages. Successful circles will often become largely self- sustaining and provide support for the focus child without the need for regular adult input. When there is careful planning and real commitment from the facilitator, results from the process are seen very quickly.

Equal Futures holds regular training sessions aimed at school staff, parents and other professionals working with children. This training will give you the tools to build and facilitate circles of friends. We can also work with schools directly and build circles for pupils and then give ongoing support to the school. For more information please contact 0131 226 5454 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .