For almost 40 years, Families Together Suffolk were affiliated with the national charity Home-Start UK, but as of May this year become an independent charity. The services provided will stay the same, but will allow more freedom to adapt services to meet Suffolk families’ needs, the ability to expand services in other areas of the county and the best foundation to create a sustainable organization for the future.
They provide home visiting support for families with at least one child under the age of 11, post-natal mental health groups and SEND groups. They also run mother and baby/toddler PEEP groups – these structured but informal groups support parents to develop stronger relationships with their child and maximise their learning and developmental opportunities.
1. Tell us about the difference this grant is making to your organisation or project? How well are you meeting your targets? If the targets are not being met, please explain why?
This project is starting to reach the needs of the families who live on the 4 estates that come under the umbrella of Growing Minds and we felt it was important to expand the reach area to the Westly Estate as we were having families ask why there was nothing on their estates and they felt there was a high need.
The estates we are now supporting for this project have a high need and the families are very often hard to reach but by offering them smaller groups we are slowly reaching the families. We need to take the pace of engaging them slowly as they can be very reluctant to interact with services and this is an area where we are doing a lot of hand holding to build their confidence. We don’t want our other partners in this project thinking we are not selling their services, as we are doing this, however we need to go with the needs of the families and the pace they are going as we don’t want to scare them off with too many professionals offering services.
2. What we have delivered up to now
This project has enabled us to facilitate 2 Peep groups, Baby Peep age Birth to 12 months and Toddler Peep 12 months to 2 years.
Our home visiting service is becoming busy as families are starting to trust us and talk about the issues they are struggling with.
Project work which includes messy play, treasure baskets and music sessions, Easter and Christmas activities and our Parent & Child group. These groups have been used as a tool for reaching new families and getting the word out about Growing Minds.
Our organisation has worked and supported families in this area for many years and have joined other funding together with Growing minds funding to offer an expanded service. These are the groups and projects that families can access
Chill, Chat and Play Perinatal support group,
SEND Families united Group
School readiness programme
LENA
Parent & child support group
3. Moving forward to year 2
The areas have expanded by 2 more estates since the start of this project we need to offer groups on these estates so will be looking into expanding our work by delivering
2 Peep groups
Parent / child support group
Additional Home visiting service to meet the need
L=Mum A=child
L & A started coming to First Steps playgroup last summer when A was a baby and Mum was very anxious and isolated.
After many conversations with L she opened up about her mental health and is now receiving home visiting too.
L has grown in confidence and will often talk to other parent’s in-group.
A was always a very timid child but will now come and take my hand to ask me to play with him or show me something.
Both L & A come and join in with crafts and group activities; A enjoys song time and especially the cooking activities.
L brought A along to the growing minds sessions last year and having a smaller and more focused group I think is what contributed towards his confidence in the first steps group, especially having it with familiar resources, familiar coordinator and familiar venue made him seem more safe and outgoing.
L has complimented our service on how much it has helped her with her mental health, parenting and relationship. She has grown in confidence and is a valued member of the group.