1. A Reflective View from the Practitioner’s Perspective
Kay Cartmell
(Health Visitor / Outreach Team Leader)
Ashley Lloyd
(Play Therapist)
Howgill Family Centre

2. Howgill Family Centre
35 years of service delivery to children and families
From Distington to Muncaster, from Whitehaven to Wasdale
75 staff and 30 volunteers
Group and individual work, & Early Years Provision
Last year around 3500 families received some form of service or support
9 community locations and Sure Start Children’s Centres
Family Centre providing
Services for Children and Families Lead organisation for Sure Start Children’s Centres - Whitehaven (North and South), NE Copeland and Egremont

3. Mission Statement Creating Opportunities for Children and Families…..
…..Working to build healthier, safer communities where children, young people and families are valued, respected and encouraged to achieve their potential
Focus very much on the child and outcomes for the child… but of course as the paediatrician and psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott famously said:
“there is no such thing as a baby”, meaning that infants exist only as part of a unit with their primary caregivers. So it’s important to take into account the whole context of the child by helping parents and the family unit.

4. ethos
One that ensures that all parents should feel able to ask for support at any time
How parents perceive services will influence the likelihood that they will ask for help
This applies particularly to those families who although they may be the most vulnerable to poor outcomes, find it hardest to access the services they need for whatever reason
They may consider that asking for help is a sign of failure and that they will be judges as unable to cope
… and that doesn’t matter whether you’re a teenage mum living in a squat or a highly qualiified professional mother struggling with postnatal depression.

5. Reducing barriers to accessing services
Stigma
Fear of being judged
Lack of confidence
Social exclusion
Poverty
Accessible
Non-judgemental
Family friendly
Needs driven
Children’s Centres should be easy places for parents to access and approach- a place where they feel comfortable getting the help and support they need
The fundamental principle of any service is that it must reach out and become sensitively responsive to that family

6. Core purposes Child Development, Learning and School Readiness
Child and Family Health and Wellbeing
Parenting/ Family Support
These of course tie in with the Every Child Matters Change for Children 5 objectives:
Be healthy
Stay Safe
Enjoy and Achieve
Make a positive Contribution
Achieve economic wellbeing

7. Principles Prevention Early Intervention Relationships are key
Barnes and Freude-Lagavardi (2002)
Shonkoff and Phillips (2000)
Shore (2001)
New Report:- Burlington S and Hosking G (March 2013)
Conception to Age 2- The Age of Opportunity
A compelling body of evidence leads to an overwhelming level of support for the principles of prevention and early intervention and a growing evidence base of cost-benefit analysis confirms that this produces an economic return for society.
Early intervention and prevention programmes are most effective if they address at least to generations by including services for the infant/child and services for the parents
The earlier in a child's life the prevention commences the more likely it is to be effective
Working with families antenatally and in that crucial first year of a babies life- the earliest intervention of them: helping parents to shape their babies brain. Early experiences can dramatically alter a babies brain and parents are the primary environment to which the young brain adapts
Relationships are key: that crucial first relationship between a parent or primary caregiver and their child- where the a lot of that child’s crucial outcomes are determined by that child’s attachment
And our relationship as practitioners, with our families- is key
No matter what the intervention is- the key is building up trust/ rapport with the family- that the cornerstone, the founding principle, if you like of all our work. It permeates all of our work.
Studies on early intervention by Jacqueline Barnes and her colleagues have shown that the specific theoretical approach is less important than establishing a shared rapport or therapeutic relationship with the parent.
Practitioners need to be better attuned to the needs of the parent and caregiver unit.
And of course there is a danger that if too much focus is placed on just helping disadvantaged parents to enter the labour market, to the detriment of championing the fundamental relationship between parent and child.
Worthy as the aspiration to lift children out of child poverty is ……. It will arguably not help a child’s future outcomes, particularly their resilience and psychological outcomes if that fundamental security of attachment is not achieved first

8. 7 Themes Coping and emotional wellbeing Family health and wellbeing
Friends and family relationships
Family finances
Children’s learning and development
Fun and leisure
Personal growth
Our objectives as an organisation are to provide evidence based services and intervention around those 7 themes

9. Coping and Emotional Wellbeing
Bereavement Group
A-Part From Group
Learn to relax group/ individual therapy
Teen parents/ new Mum's Groups
Parenting Plus programme/
Triple P Group/
Solihull Approach
Screening/ Support for perinatal depression
Early Support/Portage
Adult Art / Art Therapy
Boy's / Girl's Group
Breast Feeding Support
Play Therapy
These are some of our services / interventions based around this theme.
One of our key pieces of work is to support children and their families who have suffered the trauma of bereavement-
And again it’s about meeting the needs of our community- for as you know Cumbria has had more than it’s fair share of trauma and loss over the past few years hand over to Ashley Lloyd –our play threrapist who has founded our children’s bereavement group

10. Family Health and Wellbeing
Breast Feeding Support
Infant massage
Baby Picasso
Let's get healthy with HENRY
Parenting Plus programme
Health Visitor Drop in Sessions
Sporty Tot's/ Sporty Families/ Ground Hog's Allotment
Safety Equipment
Healthy Eating/Cooking Groups
Aqua-natal

11. Friends and Family Relationships
Music and Movement Group
Promoting Positive Interaction (Video Interaction Guidance)
Come and Play /Carer and Toddler Groups
Holiday Playscheme's
Triple P parenting Groups
Families Inc.
Speakeasy
Grandparent's Group
Adult Art / Art Therapy
Boy's / Girl's Group
Infant Massage
Play Therapy

12. Family Finances Home Support Family Finance Advisor Grant's panel
Houseproud
Accredited Training for parents
Healthy Eating Course
Grant's panel

13. Children's Learning and Development
Pre-school/Nursery provision
Storysacks
Book Start Corner/ Book Club
Boy's / Girl's Group
Baby Picasso/ Baby Signing
Music and Movement Groups
Early Language Intervention/Every Child a Talker
Parenting Plus Programme
Health Visitor Drop-in's
Families Inc. Art and Crafts
Carer and Toddler Groups

14. Fun and Leisure Play Schemes Storysacks/Storytelling sessions
Sporty Tot's/ Family Swim
Boy's / Girl's Group
Baby Picasso
Music and Movement Groups
Family Support Summer Trips
Aqua natal
Art's Group
Families Inc.
Carer and Toddler Groups

15. Personal Growth Accredited Training for parent's Learn to Relax Group
Storysacks
Book Club
Boy's / Girl's Group
Houseproud
Family Passport
Healthy Eating Courses
Triple P parenting Groups
Art's Group
Families Inc.
Learn to Relax Group