Over a year ago, we launched confidence-building programme Change It: Progress to Success, supported by the Big Lottery Fund and in partnership with Liverpool's Children's Centres.
This partnership with the children's centres ensured that Change It would be delivered right in the heart of Liverpool's communities and in a safe space that supports all members of the family from tots, to teens to adults.
Having spent so much time there, our 'Change It' Trainer Mandy has a few words to say on the importance of Children's Centres to local families and the wider community. So, we invited Mandy to do a guest blog! Have a read on her thoughts here ..
They say the family
is the glue that binds, but what happens if you don’t actually have a
supportive family? Lets say, you are a parent trying to cope with a new born
baby and the hardships now apparent in modern Britain – where do you go for family support?
I believe that the
answer is children’s centres.
Not all parents have the support from their families,
extended families and even neighbours in the street who would often be there to
help out with advice, babysitting and a cup of sugar. Some may not have the
luxury of the hands on grandparents to gain invaluable parenting advice – in fact,
many may be from a broken family and be experiencing
poverty and isolation.
This is the very reason children’s centres exist; as an
intervention to serve the poorest families in the poorest wards of England – that’s
4000 national spaces dedicated to improving the lives of children and their
families.
Today, Children’s Centres are a hub of community engagement
and activity that’s supported by local councils, family services, domestic abuse
services, health services and adult learning services, all catering for the 21st
century family.
For those of us who work with or use the Centres, we know of
the extraordinary value they bring to thousands of women’s and children’s lives
every day, and a recent
Oxford
University Study confirms it.
The fact that social isolation is no longer associated with
the perils of the elderly is indicative of a society that is breaking down
communities and dismantling the very core principles of the ‘glue that binds.’
Mums on their own with kids often experience a lonely existence, however, I
have seen the very same mums lives turnaround completely by being part of
another type of ‘family’ that operate under the roof of a purpose-built
building where ‘everybody knows your name’.
It’s a place to share the joys and fears of being a new mum,
the first tooth and steps, feeling proud that your child ate all their dinner
and wondering what to do when the stress is too much to cope with. This is when
then the children’s centres step up ... with a helping hand, not a judgemental
finger wag.
It’s the place where everything is at, from financial advice,
health tips, childcare support, maths and English classes, family link workers,
contact centres for fathers to see their children and much more.
But as they say they are ‘not kids for long’ and we are ‘not
just mums’. As the kids get older, we ask,
‘what’s next for mum’? At the children’s centres mums can figure out
just that through services such as CV support classes or career guidance
sessions to smooth over that transition to work, training and education.
If getting a job is the crucial element then the Children’s
Centres work with the
Better
Off Finance Team to advise on benefits and money management, so that mums
don’t fall into any poverty traps.
If its education or training then the referral can be to
Adult
Learning Services and Liverpool City
Careers and Guidance or
attend the classes at the Children’s Centres from basic maths, English and ESOL
and computers/ IT.
For some of those mums who feel they need the confidence to
maybe change old habits and look to build a more positive future, then the
Change
It programme, supported by the
Big
Lottery Fund is definitely the next step.
The Women's Organisation have successfully provided this
confidence building course for a year now with some great successes helping
women from deprived communities achieve their goals of becoming who they are
meant to be … successful, happy and fulfilled in whatever they desire. We run this
programme in Liverpool’s children’s centres over eight sessions for two hours
covering; assertiveness, thinking skills, learning styles, process of
transition, negative beliefs, motivational skills and next steps to success.
So, what were the provisions available for mums before
Children’s Centres? The answer is very little. In fact, before 1998 young mums
used to be penalised and discriminated against instead of supported to be the
best mum they can be. This is why we support the campaign to keep children’s centres
open and available to those who need it most, in areas that need it more than
ever and in the lives of mums that without them have no one.
Children’s centres
are the invisible family that binds communities together.
For more information on Surestarts in your area
click here.
If you think that this programme could be for you, we have a new batch of programmes starting in various venues around the city, and you can book your place now!
54 St James Street - Wednesday 12th September 2018 (4 Sessions)
Dingle Childrens Centre -Thursday 20th September 2018 (8 sessions)
Toxteth Firefit Hub - Thursday 20th September 2018 (5 sessions)Everton Childrens Centre - Monday 8th October 2018 (5 Sessions)
For more information on the Change It Program contact a member of our team on 0151 706 8111 or hello@thewo.org.uk.
