The DART course is designed to support mums and their families to recover from historic experiences of domestic abuse. We ask questions in the referral form to establish what relationships look like in your family now as we need to ensure that domestic abuse is not current. There are more appropriate services available for mums and their families if you are currently experiencing abuse and we will help you access these.

It is also important that we understand some of the issues which you and your children are experiencing so we can best plan support to help you.

We hope to process every DART referral form as quickly as we can. You should expect to hear from us within 2 weeks of a referral being sent with information about what to expect next.

The professional referring you should show you the information they have shared with us.

We do not, as a matter of course, share any information with them other than the outcome of your application and whether you have been accepted for the course.

The only exception to this is if we believe that there may be a safeguarding risk to you or your family, in which case we are obliged to share information on this with the relevant agencies. We would always advise you prior to doing this.

We consider each application to the DART course on an individual basis and take into account the regularity of contact with dad and the timings of this.

Contact with dad does not prevent you and your child attending DART but we will speak to you if we believe that this may be detrimental to your progress in DART or if we feel attending the course may put anyone at further risk.

Mums will have to have been out of the abusive relationship for at least 6 months before starting the DART course.

The DART course is designed to explore, develop and promote a healthy relationship between mum and one child. In order to get the most out of the activities, the conversations need to be between child and mum on a one-to-one basis.

This doesn’t mean you can’t attend the course again with another child in the future, although you may find that you learn strategies during DART you can apply to other children in your family.

We do not share information about you, your family and the DART course other than with the professional who may have referred you and the appropriate contact at your child’s school.

Any information which you share during the DART sessions is confidential within the group, unless we believe that there is a safeguarding issue where we are obliged to inform relevant agencies. We would always advise you prior to doing this.

We need to ask you and your child some further questions to be able to form a full picture of the issues which you are facing.

The assessments are an informal conversation between you and a trained DART facilitator who will be sensitive to your needs.

Without this assessment and the information provided, we can’t plan for the support which would benefit you both the most.

It is also important that we make sure that the DART course is right for you and your family as there may be better forms of support which we can help you with.

It is important that you both feel comfortable with the assessment process and feel able to speak openly about your experiences. With this in mind, we ask mums to be available to speak at the meeting without their children present.

We generally plan to visit mums at their own home to undertake the assessment and we will try to plan this at a time which suits you. We may, on occasion, ask mums to come to the MSH centre in Bognor Regis where the assessment will be held in a private room.

We have found that children respond well when we arrange to meet them at their school to undertake the assessment. Again, this is an informal chat with our trained facilitator and the questions are tailored to be suitable for their age. We make the arrangements with the school to ensure a private space is available. On occasion, we may ask you to bring your child into the MSH centre in Bognor Regis, where the assessment is held in a private room.

It is important that your child feels as comfortable as possible when we meet them for the first time.

The questions we ask them are designed by the NSPCC to help them feel at ease and gain important insights into how they are feeling about themselves, their families and their wider world such as school and friendships.

We use language which is appropriate to your child’s age so they can easily understand and encourage them to respond as honestly as they can.

We review the information which you and your child have provided and decide if the course is right for you and your family.

On occasion, we may come back to you to seek clarification on information.

We will then contact you to let you know if you are able to attend our DART course. We are happy to answer any questions you have at this stage.

If you have been referred by another professional, we will at this stage let them know if you have been accepted onto the DART course. We will also inform your child’s school of the outcome.

There may be occasions where we believe that you and your child would benefit from attending a future DART course, rather than one right away. You may be accessing other support which would be better focused on prior to working through the DART course. If this is the case, we would always discuss this with you and seek to review your application at a later date.

We may also consider that you and your family would not benefit from DART and other forms of support would be more beneficial to you. Again, we would always discuss this with you and look to helping you access support which is better suited to you.

Each session is designed to follow on from the work completed at the previous session, which is why we ask you to commit to attending every week.

There are usually 4 course facilitators at every session to support mums and children and we encourage you all to work together.

Sessions will often include ice breaker games to help everyone feel less nervous, discussions of healthy and unhealthy relationships using age-appropriate language for the children and a range of art and craft activities to help you both understand more about your own and each other’s feelings.

Some activities are undertaken in separate groups for mums and children, some are undertaken by you both together.

All the activities are designed to help children think about important experiences and feelings in an accessible way.

We play games and undertake group activities as well as encouraging children to participate in fun art and craft activities which serve to help them process their experiences and learn healthy ways of thinking.

Some of the activities are designed for mums and children to work on together, others are developed for the mums in the group to engage in with other mums. Our course facilitators are always on hand to help if you need it.

We include group activities, group discussions and fun arts and craft projects to help you learn whilst having fun together.

We recognise that some of the course content may be difficult to hear, especially if it recalls painful past experiences which can be quite triggering. This can be sometimes part of processing difficult memories in order to move forward.

We always encourage mums and children to leave the room if they find things too difficult but is important that participants do not leave the premises in order to ensure safety.

There will be a member of the team available to support you if you do need some time away from the session.

You will receive weekly welfare calls from one of our course facilitators to seek your feedback on the last session and to ensure that we are meeting the needs of you and your child.

You should feel free to contact us if you have any issues or concerns at any time during the course. You can do so by telephoning us on 01243 697 800.

My Sisters’ House will contact your child’s school to explain about the course and the attendance requirements. We will also confirm with them if you have or haven’t been accepted onto the course.

Once accepted, mums will need to make their own arrangements with the school to collect their child at a suitable time.

If your child is sick: The sessions are designed to support working together with your child and so if your child is sick, you will not be able to attend.

If you are sick: If you are sick, your child cannot attend as the activities require you both to work together in the session.

It is important that you and your child have had lunch before the session starts as the course timings allow for only a short break mid-session.

It can also be distracting for you and others to eat during a session where we want to encourage full engagement.

We do provide drinks and a small snack in the break.

Yes. We explain why and ask for your written consent to do so in the first session.

Photographs serve as a great tool to remind you and your child of activities you have completed and the progress you have made.

In particular, they are used in the final session as a memory of your journey together and as a group, but they will never be used outside of this final session.

All photos taken during any DART sessions are deleted at the end of the course. They are not shared with anyone.