THE innovative working of Bridgwater’s Together Team has been having a positive impact in some of the town’s most deprived areas for three years now.

Set up in 2015, the Together Team carries out a lot of work, both preventing people from falling into crisis and helping develop community spirit.

In terms of preventing vulnerable people falling into crisis, the Together Team will meet weekly.

This involves up to 31 partner agencies working together, of which a core 10 or so including representatives from the police, social services, Sedgemoor District Council, housing providers and Sedgemoor Citizens Advice Bureau will meet regularly and discuss particular individuals or families where there are warning signs of problems, and look at between the partners they might best be able to help them.

Kristy Blackwell, Together Team co-ordinator, says: “Our mantra is that the Together Team is a hand up not a hand out.

“But often where you see people fall into crisis, reviews are carried out and it shows that there may have been warning signs but a lack of communication between agencies means help did not come in time - this aims to rectify that and help fill in the missing pieces of the jigsaw.

“With the person’s consent we can intervene at the earliest point so that it helps the person and prevents the problem before it requires statutory services to step in. We can also discuss which agency is best placed to take the lead to address the core issue at hand.”

The Together Team has two hubs in Bridgwater, one based in Sydenham and the other one at Hamp.

Kristy says she wants the hubs to be considered ‘one-stop shops’ where people struggling with issues can come and seek help, or members of the community can just come and have a chat.

“With the 31 agencies we have contacts with, we can help in many situations whether it is problems with debt management, domestic abuse, anti-social behaviour, social isolation, help with your CV, hoarding or something else,” Mrs Blackwell said.

Rob Semple, organiser of the South Bridgwater Together Team, said the team had trialled an innovative youth programme to try and change the trajectory of some local troublemakers.

“We asked out partners for the names of the youths who kept popping up as nuisances and we took some of the ones which kept cropping up for the programme,” Rob says.

“These are not hardened criminals but they were starting to be a bit of a problem in the community.”

The Together Team invited them to go rock climbing on Dartmoor and kayaking in Torquay with the aim of installing some confidence, learning team building and leadership skills.

Rob added: “Some will ask ‘why are you rewarding bad behaviour?’ but we will be getting them to join in volunteering to give something back.

“The programme has already shown success, the youths who came on course now regularly come and see us in the hub and share information with us.

“We hope this small act will help turn their trajectory around, and actually ending up saving the taxpayer in the long run.”

The Together Team also does a lot for ‘Community Development’, and has held more than 190 events in the last three years including street parties, regular tea and talk events, and even the occasional skip day.

Looking ahead the team is looking at introducing basic cookery workshops, for nice, simple, cheap and healthy meals as a way of upskilling young people.

The team has also organised for a reformed drug addict to visit local schools and talk about his experiences of the impact of drug taking and how easy it is to get addicted.

Their work has the backing of Police and Crime Commissioner Sue Mountstevens and Chief Constable Andy Marsh, and has even received recognition from the Home Office.