Nugent

After a roller-coaster year for most families and parents alike, with new and sometimes hectic homeschooling dynamics thrown in, many can be forgiven for not sticking to their regular parenting techniques and looking for advice. Originally developed by psychologist Daniel Hughes, PACE (Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy) is an attachment based therapeutic parenting approach, which embodies a way of thinking, feeling, communicating and behaving as a parent that aims to make the child feel safer. PACE focusses on the whole child, not simply the behaviour and helps children to feel more secure with significant adults around them and reflect upon their thoughts, feelings and behaviour. By using PACE most of the time, parents can reduce the level of conflict, anxiety, defensiveness and withdrawal that tends to be present when trying to support a child with developmental trauma. From using this approach, more attuned, reflective, empathic and contingent responses leads over time to more secure attachment, the development of a more positive internal working model and improved emotional regulation abilities. This psychological intervention approach has the most evidence base regarding effectiveness in relation to developmental trauma, particularly with younger children, where individual therapy can be hard to engage in and tolerate.

Parental emotional well-being and self-care Parental self-care and emotional regulation is heavily promoted within therapeutic parenting approaches. Investment in this for a small amount of time daily can help prevent compassion fatigue and burn out, help with keeping calm and regulated during an incident, and be protective of your relationship with your children. It is important to take some time out daily to nurture yourself. If you are constantly pouring from an empty cup, you are far more likely to become reactive in the face of any challenges and may not respond in a way that is most conducive to keeping things as calm as possible. Self-care can range from anything, such as a few minutes spent practicing relaxed breathing to having a walk, engaging in something creative or chatting with a friend. When you are time poor, even just the simple act of twice a day putting your hand on your chest or stomach and taking five breaths in and out can be incredibly helpful. Also, taking a minute to understand and name how you are feeling - name it to tame it - such as, ‘this is frustration rising’, gradually calms the amygdala (part of brain that is responsible for fight, flight or freeze responses) down and makes it less reactive over time, which is very beneficial for the nervous system. Looking after yourself puts you in a better place to look after the little people in your care. Article by Nugent Adoption. If you would like more information about starting your adoption journey and giving children a chance to grow and dream then get in touch with our friendly, dedicated team.

01744 613 041 adoption@wearenugent.org nugentadoption.org Normandie Wragg Chief Executive Nugent

The pandemic has shone a bright light on the shortcomings and fragilities of our social care system and underlined the woeful lack of sustained investment in social care provision over the course of the last decade. There are clearly momentous challenges within the sector to overcome – with thousands of vulnerable children still in unregulated accommodation up and down the country. We also still see a worrying shortage of places nationally and a dearth of adequate placements for children who would benefit from staying closer to ‘home’. This situation has forced some looked-after children to take up placements hundreds of miles from where they are from. Whilst this can be an intentional and therapeutic decision, it is not always. If we are to recover from this crisis, we must also address longstanding failings within the social care system. 2021 must be the year we change gear and take action. Back in January, I enthusiastically welcomed Gavin Williamson’s launch of and commitment to a wholesale independent review of children’s social care – with the underlined ambition to ‘radically reform the system’ and thus ‘improve the lives of England’s most vulnerable children so they experience the benefits of a stable, loving home’. I was particularly encouraged by the ‘call for advice’ that Chair of the Review, Josh MacAlister, issued to help shape the early work of the review. This is something I fully intend to pursue. Ours is a complex sector, characterised by a cacophony of local authority operated children’s homes as well as a large number of privately owned children’s homes. There are also a handful of charitable organisations operating within the sector, such as Nugent. This is why I have recently opted to join the board of the Independent Children’s Homes Association (ICHA). I see collaboration and the establishment of corporate-charity partnerships as a route to renewed sector innovation, the proliferation of best practice and the development of much needed applied research activity. In forthcoming weeks and months ahead, I will be calling upon ICHA colleagues and sector allies to join me in collaborating for the benefit of all children. I will also be calling upon our faithful community of donors and supporters to rally behind our children’s homes so that we can ensure they remain stable loving environments where all young people feel safe and welcome. If you would like to find out more about Nugent and our Children’s Homes, please visit: www.wearenugent.org If you could find it in your heart to support Nugent this year, please email fundraising@wearenugent.org or call 0151 261 2000.

L-R Alan Molloy, David Lawson, Archbishop Malcolm, John Sargent, Andrew Cleary

On Sunday 18 July Archbishop Malcolm ordained four men to the Permanent Diaconate in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, to serve in the Isle of Man, Penwortham, St Helens and West Derby.

In his homily the Archbishop referred to images of the Diaconate including acting as a bridge between the Church and the world – carrying the peace of the Risen Lord to the local community – and acting as models of service through the Ministry of Charity by bringing God’s love to others.

Our new Deacons are:

Alan Molloy who is 64 years old, Irish by birth but has lived on the Isle of Man for approximately 35 years in Port Erin in the south of the island. He has been married to Helen for almost 39 years and they have two adult sons, Hugh, who is married and lives in Wales and elder son Alexander who lives on the Isle of Man.

Alan is self-employed, working as business consultant and independent director, following a career in the financial sector, initially in Dublin where he and his wife grew up and met, and, then on the Isle of Man.

Alan says, ‘Helen, my wife, has been a great supporter of my diaconal journey and, whilst I may be the eldest of the Liverpool diaconal ordinations for 2021, I feel blessed, energised and privileged to be joining the ranks of the diaconate in the Archdiocese’.

David Lawson is 55 years old and lives in Sutton St Helens. Married to Paula for the 29 years they have two children Maddison 15 and Matthew 13. He is a Senior Lecturer working for Edgehill University based in Manchester, teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students in the profession of Operating Department Practice (ODP) and especially surgical first assisting - working in a operating theatre. He has worked both in the NHS and in the private sector for twenty-four years and has been teaching in higher education for the last nine years.

David says, ‘My family and friends have fully supported me on my diaconate journey, and I am so blessed for all the support and encouragement I have received. I am looking forward to my service to the Church and the people of my parish or parishes. As Pope Francis recently said, “we are all called to lower ourselves because Jesus lowered Himself” - as we all prostrate ourselves during the

Alan Molloy

John Sargent David Lawson

Andrew Cleary

ordination, we do so with humbleness, charity and a profound desire to serve the people of God’.

John Sargent will minister in the Leyland pastoral area in the northern part of the archdiocese with a base in his home parish of St Mary Magdalen and St Teresa in Penwortham. John is married to Clare with two adult sons, Brendan and Aidan.

He is a member of the L’Arche Community, previously in Liverpool and now in the Preston community serving in full-time work as a member of the L’Arche International support team, leading the process to create a new Charter for the Federation of L’Arche Communities, and in the international formation team. Looking forward to his ministry John says, ‘I am excited to continue this diaconal journey as we prepare to implement the Synod recommendations in the archdiocese’.

Andrew Cleary is married to Elizabeth and has two teenage children Joseph and Anna.

He has worked in the NHS since 1987 when he started his nurse training. He currently works as the Senior Manager for Critical Care and Pain Services at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Andrew attends St Paul's and St Timothy's churches in West Derby and is an active member of the parish community including the ‘Laudato Si’ Group as well as the Knights of St Columba.

Through his work with the Knights, he has had the opportunity to work ecumenically and supported the volunteer programme at St Johns the Baptist church, Tuebrook, foodbank.

Andrew says, ‘the opportunities to serve the wider community have helped me through my formation journey. To be ordained Deacon and to be called to serve the Church through the Ministry of the Word, Altar and Charity is a great honour and I look forward to witnessing to the Good News of Jesus Christ with my fellow Christians’.

Human rights campaigner and Member of the House of Lords, David Alton, has received the 2021 Westminster Award for Human Life, Human Rights, and Human Dignity. The award recognises extraordinary and notable work and achievements that safeguard the dignity and right to life of human beings. It was founded in 2013, a year after the death of Right To Life UK founder Phyllis Bowman DSG, in whose memory it is awarded.

The recipient of the Westminster Award is chosen by the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group and the Trustees of Right To Life UK, having taken advice from senior MPs and Peers in both Houses of the Westminster Parliament.

Author of eleven books, Lord Alton is a Visiting Professor at Liverpool Hope University, serves on the House of Lords International Relations and Defence Select Committee, is Co-Chair or Vice Chair of eight All-Party Parliamentary Groups, and is Trustee or Patron of a number of charities and voluntary organisations.

He served as a Liverpool MP for 18 years standing down from the House of Commons, and from party politics in 1997 and was nominated by the Prime Minister, Sir John Major, to the House of Lords, where he sits as an Independent Life Peer.

Lord Alton said of the award, ‘To receive the award is a huge privilege. It is an encouragement to carry on. Everyone knows I care about a whole variety of human rights questions but if you don’t have the right to be born then all the others fall by the wayside - all 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are worthless if you don’t have the right to be born in the first place’.

Chris Whitehouse KCSG, a trustee of Right To Life UK said, ‘The work of Right to Life UK would simply not be possible without the encouragement and expertise Lord Alton has contributed to our mission, and so many other just causes, throughout his lifelong advocacy on behalf of the most vulnerable. Thank you, Lord Alton, for 41 years of service, tirelessly championing a better world for the next generation, both born and unborn.’

Catherine Robinson from Right To Life UK, said: ‘We are so pleased to be able to celebrate Lord Alton's decades of public service, and his role in the pro-life movement in the UK and internationally. His example has already, and will continue to, inspire countless people to stand up on behalf of what is right, not what is simply popular’.