Working with Pathfinder

Pathfinder SEMH means social, emotional and mental health. They work with families who suffer with similar problems.

Pathfinder currently works across 23 schools in South Birmingham, primarily in the Northfield district, with formal agreements to expand to 36 schools across 8 districts in the next academic year. They provide sustained, relational 'support on-tap' to families through schools, social justice and 'shared authority'.

They do this by building partnerships with schools and developing existing members of school staff (who remain funded by their school) to become school-based Pathfinder workers. They support, supervise and mentor these workers, co-working complex cases with them. They also connect them into their ecosystem of support agencies, so that they become a trusted guide and conduit for their families.

By using 'Psychologically Informed Environments' as the foundation of their practice, this allows the work to be trauma informed. Pathfinder also offer PIE and NVR (Non-Violent Resistance) training to schools and families.

Working with schools to repurpose and develop their existing members of staff means the Pathfinder reconfigures existing capacity in the system around shared values and intentions. Pathfinder are making the most of what already exists and changing the systems from the ground up.