Zoneworks (inc Zone West)

Zoneworks

Zoneworks (inc Zone West) is a Link Worker project delivering social prescribing for children in the West End of Newcastle. It was developed when Dr Mike McKean, Clinical Director at Great North Children’s Hospital and Prof Chris Drinkwater, Chair at Ways to Wellness together with Toby Quibell were inspired by examples of link worker practice in the region and nationally to make something happen for children in Newcastle.

We want children to flourish in life and we look for outcomes in education, health and community settings. To achieve we picture the child at the centre of a network of relationships and resources, and work hard to make the organisation of resources reflect this core priority.

Work with schools and GP surgeries

We work with a number of schools and GP surgeries in the West End of Newcastle, taking referrals and holding conversations to identify cohorts of children for our Link Workers programmes. Each child is allocated a Link Worker, who will have mentoring meetings and groupwork sessions with them each week. Through that relationship the aim is to help the child identify targets and then link them to activities.  We currently work with the following GP surgeries:

Newcastle Outer West:

• Denton Park Medical Group
• Parkway Medical Centre
• Westerhope Medical Group
• Throckley Primary Care Centre
• Newburn Surgery
• Denton Turret Medical Centre

Newcastle Inner West:

• Prospect House Medical Group
• Betts Avenue Medical Group
• Fenham Hall Surgery
• Elswick Family Practice
• Dilston Medical Centre

West End Family Health:

• West Road Medical Group
• Cruddas Park Surgery
• Holmside Medical Group

Zone Works activities

This is a little taster of some of the activities taking place in and out of school in the West of Newcastle.

Zone Boro

Zone Boro is a pilot children’s social prescribing service; it is a direct replication of the Zone West principles, ethos and Link Worker model.

We work in central Middlesbrough, with all referrals coming to us directly through two primary schools, Ayresome and Linthorpe, as well as from health professionals within Holgate PCN. This covers the following GP Practices: Linthorpe, Borough Road & Nunthorpe, Village and Foundations.

We work specifically with children aged 7-11; our referrals are predominantly due to poor social, emotional and mental health but we also work with referrals for inactivity and weight management, loneliness and isolation, bereavement and with children with health conditions such as Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes and asthma. If you would like to refer your child to our service this must be done via your GP at one of the above practices. Our school referrals are currently full.

Celebrating successes and achievements

Ayden won an award for his poem ‘Inspiration’.

Brother and sister offering other children support to cope with grief, read their story.

And Summer, one of our Zone West Warriors, was featured on ITV news talking about knife crime in the North East!

You can get in touch with the team to find out more about our work here.

Visit our Children, Young People and Families page for other services and activities we offer.