East End Cinema Night

With Kids convert the basement of their headquarters at Annfield Place, every other Thursday to host a cinema night for families.

It is a great way for families to interact with other families, enjoy popcorn, sweets, hot dogs and juice and best of all it is free of charge. As we are all well aware, a cinema trip for the average family of four can be extremely expensive and also younger children often get restless and interrupt other viewers.

With Kids staff also provide a separate room as a break out area for the restless children, fully equipped with toys and games. The children can go back in to watch the film at any point.

Paul Saunders who owns Paul Saunders Media went along to one of the Cinema Nights and did an audio recording of the event which was mentioned on the BBC Radio Scotland's Movie cafe programme hosted by Janice Forsyth.

With Kids Cinema Night from Paul Saunders on Vimeo.

The cinema night's have proved a real success, that families are advised to book in advance by calling With Kids HQ.

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Charity partner is a credit to With Kids

With Kids Glasgow are delighted to announce that Allied International Credit (UK) have chosen us as their local charity partner for 2011.

Allied International Credit was founded in Ontario, Canada in 1955. In 1968 the Company expanded its operations into the United Kingdom and in 2000 it expanded into the United States when the Company opened its first US office in Phoenix, Arizona. Today AIC employs over one thousand people in seven production locations in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Allied International Credit (AIC) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Allied Global Holdings. We provide exceptional debt collection services to financial institutions, government, telecommunications, utilities, retail and health care.

With Kids would like to thank Allied International Credit for their support and we will keep you updated with their fundraising activity throughout the year.

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A poor show as child poverty is rising in Britain.

Britain is one of the world's richest countries, but it has some of the highest rates of children living below the poverty line. With Kids is based in the East End of Glasgow ,this area has some of the highest levels of poverty in Scotland and the UK. Although the facts and figures that follow may seem bleak, not all families will have the same issues. However, living in or near an area of high poverty can affect you directly or indirectly through crime, lack of amenities, poor educational facilities etc.

The sheer volume that may need help means that sometimes children and families might not get the support they need; a parent struggling with a child with a learning difficulty or emotional issue might not know where to turn, a parent who's a former addict may be afraid to ask for help in case social services intervene. All families, regardless of background find that they have difficulties from time to time and too often parent's may not be aware of available support or the best action to take. With Kids aims to fill that gap and to provide flexible support that is suited to the needs of children and parents.

Some Facts and Figures:

In some postcode areas in the east end of Glasgow, 60% of children live in workless households, almost 50% of adults of working age are on incapacity benefit and life expectancy can be as low as 54. - Glasgow Herald

Over 90,000 children in Scotland live in severe poverty - of these:

• 72% of children parents’ are not in work

• 66% of children are in families claiming income support, job seekers allowance and incapacity benefit,

• 45% of mother’s of children have no educational qualification,

• 1 in 2 children live in single parent families,

• 10% of children are from an ethnic minority, compared to 2.6% not in poverty,

• 41% of children live in families with a disabled adult, compared to 17% of children not in poverty. - Living Below the Radar:

Measuring Severe Child Poverty in the UK - Save the Children

Poorer children are five times more likely to regularly miss school. - BBC News

Poverty in Glasgow is being blamed for malnutrition in almost one in five youngsters who attended a children's hospital in the city. Health experts say many families cannot afford a more varied diet. - BBC News

Scotland has the worst child poverty, the worst diet and the worst dietary illness in Europe. - Danny Phillips, Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland.

In Scotland half the working-age adults who are long-term sick or disabled are assessed as being at high risk of developing a mental illness. By contrast, only one in seven of those who are in work are assessed as being at high risk. For those who are unemployed, around one in three are assessed as at high risk. - The Poverty Site.

Addiction of all types - to nicotine, alcohol and drugs - is often found in people with a wide variety of mental illnesses. Clinical reports state that at least half of those who seek mental health treatment have some type of addiction. - Science Daily

Drug addiction is more frequent in individuals who have a mental illness compared to individuals without any mental disorder. Likewise, people who are drug dependent are more likely to suffer from mental disorders than non-dependent people. - Green Facts

NHS audits show that there were more than 10,700 emergency admissions to Glasgow hospitals for adults with alcohol-related problems over a 12 month period from 2007 to 2008. Statistics from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde reveal that 42% of Glasgow’s schoolchildren admit to being drunk at least once a month, with a further 27% admitting they are drunk on at least a weekly basis. In 2009 eight children under the age of 12 from Glasgow were admitted to hospital because of excessive alcohol consumption. Areas of high deprivation such as Glasgow East, have almost double the percentage of smokers than in affluent areas. - Evening Times.

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Hilton in the Community Foundation donated to the With kids Xmas appeal 2010

With kids would like to say a huge thank you to the Hilton in the Community Foundation.

We are really grateful for donating a further £1,000 to the With Kids Xmas 2010 Appeal.

A total of £8,000 has now been donated by the Hilton in the Community Foundation to With Kids.

Angela Beattie, Business Development Manager, at With Kids said "we are extremely grateful for this invaluable support".

For more information on ways that you can help With Kids, please click here.

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Queenspark Builders hard graft for With Kids

The first phase of the With Kids drop-in centre development has now been completed with our brand new kitchen being fully installed and operational. The team at Queenspark Builders in Glasgow fitted the kitchen in 3 days.

With Kids would like to thank the team at Queenspark Builders for all of their hard graft and we can now utilise the fully modern and equipped kitchen when families drop by.

We can now begin work on a cafe, workshop area and a specially designed therapy room. It's all been made possible with our recent funding from the Asda Foundation. We'll keep you up to date on the rest of our work.

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Ignis Asset Management Womans 10k run

With Kids Glasgow are looking for fundraiser's who would be interested in running at this event, so if you're looking for an excuse to shed those Xmas pounds then why not sign up for the Ignis Asset Management Women's 10K on Sunday 8th May?

You could get fit while raising some much needed funds for With Kids. We can support you with your fundraising and even advise you on a training plan.

If you'd like to get involved, contact us at With Kids and make a start on your fitness plan.

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With Kids Play Therapy: Case Study

With Kids, Glasgow regularly operates a Play Therapy class for children that attend the centre. Here is an example of why Play Therapy is so important and how it makes a difference to a child's life. This is just some of the work that we do.

Key Issues
Child A (aged 10) was referred by primary school due to concerns about emotional difficulties, especially anger and behavioural issues at school (including anti-social concerns and sexualised behaviour). Child A's family situation was cause for concern with a mother who admitted to prostituting from the family home when Child A was younger and with a history of drug abuse. Child C was now in the care of a family member who stated that the child struggled with separation, which was causing distress for all concerned

Intervention
Over 11 months, the play therapist noted that Child A was initially very silent, guarded and anxious and play was limited and physically contained. At first the child engaged mainly in art activities and was prolific in the amount of work produced. The play therapist felt that this was content rich and seemed cathartic for the child.

Themes in play related to fear violence, chaos, confusion, destruction and lack of safety. It also revealed that the child found transitions difficult. Over time play moved on to exploring sand and other sensory materials and playing with cars. It was noted that play was very repetitive and mirrored the play of a much younger child suggesting that the child had missed out on some early development play.

Outcomes
As time progressed Child A's play developed a much more spontaneous element becoming more vocal and expressive with frequent laughing and smiling and was increasingly more relaxed. The child began to develop reciprocal play with the therapist and began to cope better with transitions.

The play therapist was able to suggest that Child A would benefit from further opportunities to revisit activities associated with early development, such as sensory and tactile activities. It also recommended that continued support be provided to help Child A deal with transitions.

Staff at school reported that Child A seemed more settled and calm with increased confidence and was taking on more responsibility. Child A became more willing to engage and speak and behaviour became less challenging.

The family carer felt that Child A had made a 'huge improvement' and commented that they couldn't remember the last time Child A had had a 'temper tantrum'.

For further information and reading on Play Therapy please follow the links: http://www.bapt.info/ or http://www.playtherapy.org.uk/.

For more information on the work that With Kids do in the east end of Glasgow have a look at our Website, Blog, Facebook, and follow us on Twitter. You can also call us on 0141 550 5770.

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