Early Help Assessment

We all need help sometimes and that’s ok. An Early Help Assessment (EHA) starts with a chat with you and a professional who may already be involved with your child such as a nursery, a school or health professional. It can be an opportunity to talk about things that are worrying you such as things at home with your family, health, or finances. There is nothing wrong with asking for help. An EHA is a good way of us working together with you to ensure you receive the right support at the right time.

What is an Early Help Assessment?

After your first discussion with the professional involved, it may be that an Early Help Assessment is needed, so with your consent, an EHA will be started and completed with you. It will highlight the strengths of your family as a whole, the areas you feel could be better and any worries you may have about you or your family. By deciding together what support you feel you all need, an action plan is drawn up between you and the professional about what happens next. The EHA helps to identify what support you want and helps plan how best we can work together to make changes. It may be that other supporting agencies are referred to and become involved to help you. Some families can get the support they need from services available to all (e.g. Schools, Health Visitors, and GPs etc.). These are often called ‘Universal Services’.

Sometimes families may need more intense or specialised support during a crisis (maybe just for a short period of time). This is often called ‘Targeted Support’.

For a longer term arrangement for example, when a child is born or diagnosed with a disability or learning difficulty, the service is often called ‘Specialist Support’.

Tameside’s Vision

Tameside’s vision is for all children and young people to have positive and safe life experiences, leading to a successful transition to adulthood and fulfilling their full potential. Children, young people, and their families will be supported at the earliest possible point to prevent escalation of problems and difficulties.