Lifeline support brings families back from the brink
Helping build new futures for Inverclyde children
A new lifeline support team is already working alongside Inverclyde families to bring them back from the brink of crisis, according to a leading charity.
Aberlour Children’s Charity revealed a specialist team is working to help families stay together and thrive as they are struggling with significant challenges such as poverty, trauma and social isolation.
The team, working in partnership with Inverclyde Heath and Social Care Partnership, is now working closely with more than 20 families building relationships and supporting them to create more stable and positive futures.
Service manager Nicole Glover said poverty is often the root cause of families’ difficulties but many are coping with other wide-ranging pressures from poor mental health to inadequate housing.
Nicole said:
The challenges can be complex and rarely come alone. That is why our support is delivered so intensively and with such urgency. Our support is flexible, responsive and shaped around each family’s unique circumstances.
“We are right there, shoulder to shoulder with our families, sometimes seven days a week, in the morning, in the evening, whenever they need us most.
“We listen to understand the challenges facing each family then help them map a way through.
“It is not about us coming in and telling families what to do but about building on their strengths and focussing on what is working well.
Glover said building trust with families, often suspicious of official agencies, is crucial and allows workers to generate a new sense of hope and potential change.
She said:
In the very short term, we are working to ease and avert immediate crises but our priority is to deliver lasting change within a family.
“We are working to strengthen their resilience and help them out of crisis for good.
“Every family is different so our support can never be one size fits all. It is tailored to the family’s needs.
“It could be about building routines and mending fractured relationships within families or supporting children back into education.
“A priority is often helping them connect again. Connect with each other and with the wider community, whether that’s neighbours, relatives or statutory services.
“Families under these kind of pressures can easily become more and more isolated.
The Intensive Support Service being delivered in Inverclyde is modelled on a successful approach deployed in Glasgow, which shares some of Scotland’s worst deprivation.
The seven-strong Aberlour team, based in Greenock in the same building as Inverclyde HSCP, is working to secure brighter futures for children on the edge of care after their families are referred by social worker colleagues.
Glover, who managed the Glasgow service before leading the Inverclyde service, said the framework helps families identify strengths and build agency and their self-confidence.
She said:
We know the model works, this really close collaboration between ourselves and other services and agencies.
“We are working closely with them but also shoulder to shoulder with families, taking what is working well and amplifying it.
“We are not here to tell families what to do but to listen to where they want to be and help get them there.
“To see a family’s confidence get stronger and watch children thrive, is hugely satisfying for our team. We are here to support families get to a better place. That is our job and there is nothing more satisfying.
This article was written for and published in The Greenock Telegraph on Tuesday 19th May 2026.