Families with at least one child under 5, living in North Glasgow or North Lanarkshire, are matched with a trained volunteer who provides emotional/practical support to parents/carers who need some extra help coping with everyday life. By supporting parents, we are supporting the entire family.
Over half the families we support are asylum seekers, refugees or from BAME communities. Referrals come from a variety of sources, eg Health Visitors, Perinatal teams, Mother and Baby Unit, psychologists and Social Workers, and families can also self-refer.
For families facing immediate crisis during the perinatal phase, we provide intensive support for approximately 8 weeks, thereafter families will be transferred to volunteer support.
We facilitate several group activities for parents and their children – Family Group, Nurture Group and Walk, Talk and Play. We have several bespoke groups, such as Dad Matters and Café Stork (for perinatal mums/dads). We provide Video Interaction Guidance and training courses for parents and volunteers, such as Baby Massage and Pediatric First Aid.