Connect Gwent – Umbrella Cymru

IMPORTANT

If you are looking for the main Connect Gwent website, please visit www.connectgwent.org.uk

About Connect Gwent

Connect Gwent is a multi-agency hub for victims and witnesses of crime and antisocial behaviour in Gwent, whether this has been a recent experience or something that happened in the past is having an impact now.

Where are we?

We’re based in Blackwood but we provide support to people across the 5 local authorities of Gwent.

Who are we?

We have professionals and specialists working together from a range of organisations. We work with many different agencies across Gwent, but the multi-agency partners in our office are below. These provide support to:

Adults

Age Cymru Gwent

Provides emotional and practical support and access to wider services for people impacted by crime and antisocial behaviour who are 50+.

Aneurin Bevan UHB

ABUHB

Specialist Mental Health and Well-being support for adult (18-65) victims of crime who are struggling with their mental health. This service is provided by a Registered Mental Health Nurse.

New Pathways

Support for adults, children and young people who have experienced rape or sexual abuse. Includes counselling and advocacy services.

Umbrella Cymru

Provides support to adults who have been impacted by an incident they feel was motivated by hate or hostility in relation to their (actual or perceived) gender or sexual identity as well as wider support to LGBTQ+ people impacted by crime or antisocial behaviour.

For more information about the full range of services offered, click the button below.

Victim Support

Provides support to help anyone affected by crime to cope and recover. This includes emotional, practical and advocacy support, help accessing local services and specialist support in relation to domestic abuse and hate crime.

Young People

Umbrella Cymru

As well as specialist gender and sexual diversity related support, Umbrella Cymru also provides support to any young person (under the age of 18) affected by any crime and antisocial behaviour in Gwent.

This service is commissioned by the Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent.

For more information about the service, click the button below.

How do we work?

As a multi-agency service, we work together to make sure that you get the best from us. Here is a step-by-step guide about what happens when you access support from us:

Step 1 – Receive Referral

Request for support

Your support journey will begin with a referral. There are a number of ways a referral can be made to Connect Gwent, including:

Self-referral

This could made online via the Connect Gwent website or directly through the website of one of the agencies within Connect Gwent who offer this (Victim Support and Umbrella Cymru). You could also make a self-referral over the phone or by email.

Family referral

This is if you are making a referral for someone in your family, for example a young person or a vulnerable adult.

Automatic Police referral

If you have reported an incident to the Gwent Police, a Victim Care Officer will contact you to discuss support options available to you.

Other agency referral

If you have been supported by someone else, and they think it would be beneficial for us to help out too, other agencies can refer you to us (with your consent). We’ll contact you to discuss support and explain what we might be able to offer.

Step 2 – Attempt Contact

We’ll be in touch…

When we receive a referral, we’ll attempt to contact you as quickly as possible. The person or agency that contacts you will depend on the way your referral came in. Here is some information about who might be calling you.

Gwent Police

The vast majority of people will be contacted by Gwent Police staff called Victim Care Officers (VCOs). If you made a self-referral to Connect Gwent (rather than directly to one of the agencies within it), a VCO will contact you to determine which agency would be best suited to support you.

One of the other agencies

If you have (or the person who made the referral on your behalf has) requested direct contact from a specific agency within Connect Gwent, this will be who will contact you.

Step 3 – Initial Discussion

It’s good to talk…

When one of the team contacts you, we’ll first check that it is a good time (and safe) to talk. We’ll also check things like your contact details so we know it’s you, and then we’ll ask you a few questions to help us determine what we can offer and how we might support you.

We can help with lots of different things so it doesn’t always have to be about the direct impact of the incident. If we can’t help you with something in particular, we might know someone who can… it’s always worth asking us.

Step 4 – Internal Discussion

We’ll talk to ourselves…

This is the really big benefit of being a multi-agency service. It means we get to share the experiences of all the specialists who work here.

To make sure we have the right and best person supporting you, we might discuss the information you provided. We won’t use any names at this point unless you have consented for us to do so. This is simply to understand the nature of the support you’re looking for and draw upon the skills of the whole team to make your journey as comfortable as possible.

When we have done this, we’ll know who to ask to contact you. If you’ve already consented for your information to be shared with the right person, they’ll call you directly. If you haven’t, the person you spoke to at the beginning will contact you to discuss this with you and ask for your consent. You can always decline this or withdraw your consent at any time.

Step 5 – Provide Support

Help is at hand…

Once your information is with the right person, they will contact you to discuss support. The support they provide might be over the phone, by text or email, or face-to-face. This will depend on what you want them to help you with and how they think this would work best.

The support could be short (for example a phone call or an email with information) or it could take a bit longer to make sure you get everything we can provide. Either way, your Caseworker will discuss this with you and develop a plan with you.

Step 6 – Completing Support

Time to say goodbye…

Once you have covered everything you planned to with your Caseworker, they’ll ask you a few questions to check how far things have moved since the beginning. They might also ask you some questions about how you feel the support has impacted different things (for example if you feel safer or better informed). This helps us review our support and develop in areas we might need to. Please be honest, we really do value the feedback.

Step 7 – Satisfaction Survey

How did we do?

If you have given your consent for our survey team from Gwent Police to contact you, they’ll get in touch to ask you a few more questions about the service you received from Connect Gwent a whole, as well as some questions about your Caseworker specifically. Again, please be honest, this really helps us improve and we genuinely value all feedback.

Contact Us

Phone

Speak to us

If you would like speak to one of the Victim Care Officers (Gwent Police) who can help direct your call to the relevant team, please call

0300 123 2133.

Lines are open:

Mon-Fri – 8am – 6pm

Weekend – CLOSED

You can leave a voicemail outside of these hours and someone will call you back. Please remember to leave you name and the best number to call back on.

Email

We love email

You can send us an email 24/7, including anything from a request for a call back to full details of what you would like help with. Gwent Police manage the mailbox and will direct the enquiry to the relevant member of the team. They might come back to you for more information to help get you to the right person. Please send you emails to:

connectgwent@gwent.police.uk