New family safeguarding model helps mum rebuild her life and inspire others

That's the verdict of a young mum who's turned her life around thanks to a new approach to supporting parents who've faced hardship.

Rebecca Neville, of Rossendale, began receiving support from Lancashire County Council’s new Children's Safeguarding Model in January 2023, which is aimed at reducing the number of children being taken into care.

It’s meant the mum has been able to get quick access to a comprehensive package of mental health, wellbeing and counselling support, which has helped her overcome trauma and lifestyle issues.

As a result, she's been able to continue raising her two-year-old son while focusing on her career and fitness goals.

Among them is her involvement with 'Change, Grow, Live,' a social care and health charity which helps vulnerable people, which has led to her becoming a safeguarding recovery coordinator at the county council.

Rebecca, 33, said: "My situation had escalated quickly, after I had experienced childhood instability, traumatic events and unhealthy relationships.

"However, I started getting the help from the Family Safeguarding model in 2022, which has meant that I have had a huge amount of support across all those areas, like mental health, child safeguarding, and ultimately, that has helped me to continue to have a relationship with my children.

"I really feel that the Lancashire child safeguarding model helped me to turn my life around, and to build more positive relationships and a healthy lifestyle."

Rossendale mum and Fitness Coach Rebecca Neville undertaking intensive fitness training

Rebecca is just one of the people being supported by Lancashire County Council's Family Safeguarding Model.

The new approach was launched after children's social care found that a lot of children were being removed from families, and analysis showed that the number of children in care had doubled from 2001-2021.

For the first time, mental health overtook domestic violence as the top reason why children were being taken away from their parents.

In response, a new way of supporting families was launched in Lancashire, called the Family Safeguarding Model, aimed at homing in on strengths of participants, with the goal of not removing children.

It is streamlined and multi-disciplinary, making support workers for substance misuse, domestic abuse and a mental health available to people under a single social worker, meaning that they can be seen more quickly and more efficiently.

Rebecca's first Pro Doubles, a competitive teams fitness race in Hyrox, with her doubles partner Vanessa 

It has made big difference already, as in 2022, there were 388 children in care in Lancashire, but in Feb 2025 that figure was 286. Meanwhile, Rebecca has also achieved a number of other goals after a tentative trial session at the gym inspired her to take up 'Hyrox' classes, an intensive type of endurance training.

Since 2022, she's gone from strength to strength by becoming a fully qualified personal trainer and coach, even launching her own fitness coaching business, hybRfiit with Rebecca.

She said: "I found my fitness through something called HIITstep, which stands for High Intensity Interval Training. I used to go to my local gym, and I literally used to take my son in his car seat, and he used to come into the sessions with me.

"I became a HIIT instructor, did a Hyrox coaching qualification to become hyrox affiliate coach, and lots of other coaching qualifications, and my own Coach, Natalie, guided me and helped me to become a stronger Athlete and Coach.

"There's also a massive community associated with it, and it's very much who you surround yourself with, because I absolutely believe that movement is medicine.

"When I walked into my first fitness class, I looked at the instructor and thought, do you know what, I'm going to do that. So, I did, I became an instructor, and then a drug and alcohol recovery coordinator with the council.

"It's just amazing to keep on pushing for something extra all the time. It takes you out of yourself, to push yourself, and to feel supported by the community, and that's what I love about it. I'm always setting new goals and absolutely smashing them."

Rebecca with fitness colleagues on Snowdon earlier this year

Rebecca's life coach Natalie, is a world championship HYROX athlete who has competed for Great Britain.

Natalie said: "For me, it's about being able to juggle being an athlete with a full time job, being a parent, being a coach, and ensuring you get good results with all of those responsibilities.

"So with Rebecca, who's got children and all those responsibilities of working full time, it's about inspiring people who are regular athletes, who are juggling their fitness with everything else and get up super early."

Marie McNally, Family Safeguarding Team manager, said: "Rebecca has had intensive package of recovery support where we supported her with a whole range of help, starting with her in in home with a parent assessment.

"We also paid for intense mental health support and other support, and a family group conference, and it has really worked.

"All of this has meant that she's been able to keep her youngest child, thanks to the extensive support she's had through our family safeguarding model.

"Now she's coming onto our team to be able to use her lived experience to help other people going through the same experience."

Rebecca added: "The point I want to make is, that all this support that I have experienced, through the council's Family Safeguarding Model, is absolutely going to help so many families by supporting them in every possible way."