Our three specialised Family Support Groups are located in Royston, Buntingford and South Cambridgeshire. They take place every week in term-time – sessions lasting two hours.
The Groups are open to families with children under the age of 5 who are supported by Home-Start and provide a safe and non-distracting environment where isolated families feel more able to develop friendships and a peer-support network.
Family Support Group helps parents to:
- Become more confident
- Have better self-esteem
- Feel more able to manage their mental health difficulties.
- More effectively manage children with challenging behaviour and/or additional needs.
Planned activities for parents and children to do together strengthens their relationships, whilst separate activities enable parents to have some “me time”, whilst their children learn to play with other children, away from their parent.
Some families who may not want to accept the support of a home-visiting volunteer may come to one of our Family Support Groups. After a while there, building their trust in the way we work, they often feel able to ask for more personal support at home.
Other very isolated parents who don’t have the confidence to meet people, may well take the first steps to building links into their own communities after our home-visiting volunteers take them to one of our Family Support Groups.