Connecting all those working with CYPF
The team at Journey Together loves connecting people and building community. The sum is so much greater than the parts when practitioners work together. ‘Joined-up working’ means we are presenting young people (and children and families) with a more cohesive offer: less duplication, more holistic care. It is a significant investment in the sustainability of the workforce: encouraging practitioners and providing safe spaces to share the weight of many of the complex and nuanced situations we find ourselves responding to. Collaborative working also supports the ongoing development of best practice and innovation in the field: creative solutions that bring life to practitioners, young people, children and families.
There are other networks supporting practitioners working with children, young people and families across Oxford and Oxfordshire; we connect with as many of them as possible to reduce duplication and further enhance the reach and effectiveness of the work we collectively offer. Our work networking practitioners has largely focused on connecting Christian practitioners, where there was a gap in the field. We are actively exploring ways to expand this work to include practitioners working in the voluntary sector, utilising and adapting our existing models outlined below, and to connect faith, voluntary and statutory practitioners.
612 Prayers
We coordinate the 612 Prayer Group, which was founded in November 2020 by representatives from our founding organisation, Viva’s Doorsteps Initiative, and St Aldates Church. This group was started as a weekly online prayer group seeking ways practitioners in Oxford could support struggling children, young people and families. After four years of prayer, research and strategic meetings, the group launched Safe Families in Oxford in February 2024 and Babies Matter parenting support courses in October 2024. This group also links with Renew Oxford (see below).
The 612 team meets weekly to pray, gathering prayer requests from practitioners across statutory, faith-based and charitable sectors, all of whom greatly value the invitation and encouragement. As the team prays for these situations, they also seek strategic responses to meet needs in Oxford and Oxfordshire.
Want to send in prayer requests or join us to pray? Sign up to the WhatsApp Broadcast here to get a weekly invitation to send in prayer requests about children, young people and families.
Please get in touch if you’d like to find out more.
YouthNet
Our Director is on the steering group that facilitates YouthNet, the Oxfordshire Christian youth workers’ network.
YouthNet exists to encourage, support, and connect Christian youth workers from churches and organisations across Oxfordshire, with a shared vision that every young person should have the opportunity to access Christian youth work and community in a way that is meaningful to them. This may be through geographical communities, interest-based groups (such as music, art, or sport), or spaces designed around different needs and ways of engaging.
The network meets roughly six times a year for encouragement, prayer, collaboration, and shared learning, and we’re always glad to welcome new members.
Please get in touch if you’d like to find out more.
Passion for Possibilities
Passion for Possibilities is a reflective network of practice for women in overlapping roles who might not intersect professionally (eg SEND, youth work, early years, social work) and who are unlikely to meet in a networking context but who serve and support overlapping people groups – vulnerable children, young people and families in Oxford and Oxfordshire. Our director developed this model in 2024 and has seen positive engagement from practitioners and quantifiable outcomes and results from connections made through the community.
The Passion for Possibilities community gathers once a term. Gatherings are designed to network and encourage practitioners, facilitate the sharing of vocational insights, and identify collaborative approaches. We are currently exploring a series on ‘Connection, Gathering, Building Community, Belonging and Inclusion’, inspired by research from the recent Renew Oxford Mapping.
Please get in touch if you’d like to find out more.
Regular Huddles
Our sending charity, Viva, utilises a weekday ‘Huddle’ structure to build community amongst a staff team who work remotely. Journey Together adopted this model of short weekly fifteen-minute video calls and has been piloting them with the YouthNet community since Jan 2026. We have found these calls build rapport and morale, create an ease of communication, allow for collaborative problem-solving and offset the isolation that so easily creeps in when practitioners work remotely. We are exploring expanding this model to support others working in the field of CYPF.
Please get in touch if you’d like to find out more.
Renew OXford
Our founding organisation Viva’s Doorsteps Initiative was heavily involved in the Renew Mapping process, and we are delighted to continue involvement with the team at Renew. Renew Oxford exists to foster collaboration between the city’s churches for the good of Oxford. The team at Renew wants to make a positive contribution and play a part in building a better future for the city of Oxford.