Parenting Groups & Courses

Triple P

Triple P is for parents and carers of children aged 2 – 12 years. The programme is designed to give parents and carers the skills they need to raise confident, healthy children and to build stronger family relationships. Triple P doesn’t tell people how to parent. Rather, it gives parents and carers simple and practical strategies they can adapt to suit their own values, beliefs and needs. The benefits can be dramatic and long-lasting. Triple P groups are 2 hours per week for 10 sessions and are free of charge. The group is a great opportunity to build networks and learn from others in similar situations.

Best for: Parents of 2-12 year olds looking for tools and techniques to parent more effectively.

Circle of Security

Circle of security aims to help you to understand and respond to your child’s needs, support your relationship with your child, improve your child’s self-esteem and be a confident parent. Circle of Security Parenting Groups are designed to give parents ‘a map’ for understanding bewildering behaviour and responding to their children’s emotional needs. Research shows that parents who are able do this in a loving and consistent way give their children an amazing start in life.

Best for: Parents of children aged 0-5 years

Freedom Programme

This course is for women who are experiencing or have experienced domestic abuse in their past or present relationship. It is a support group that helps women to deal with their situation in a confidential and safe environment. It also aims to help women understand and recognise potential unhealthy relationships and signs of abusive behaviour.

Best for: Female victims and survivors of Domestic Violence

Freedom Forever

Freedom Forever follows on from the Freedom programme for female survivors of domestic abuse. Sessions involve discussion around survivors’ lives after the perpetrator is no longer living with them. They are intended to provoke reflection and provide support in searching for information on the internet.

Best for: Female survivors of domestic abuse that have completed either the online Freedom Programme for women or have attended and completed an in person group.

Domestic Abuse Support Drop-in

Our Early Help Domestic Abuse consultant will be providing drop-in sessions at the three Family Hubs in Westminster during the course of the year. This support will be rotated between the three locations - more details will be shared closer to the time.

• Walk-in and/or booked sessions
• Opportunity for professionals seeking advice or case discussion as well as initial / introductory meetings with clients
• Advice around Freedom Programme and referrals

Drop-in Parenting Clinics

Mums and Dads trying to juggle being a parent to a newborn, toddler, child, or teenager and in a relationship?

Drop in for a free 121 talk with one of our advanced practitioners

Individual Support

We offer a limited number of spaces for one to one parenting support with one of our practitioners. We can deliver programmes individually as a part of a family plan, alongside a Lead professional. Referrals for one to one support are therefore only accepted from professionals working with a family, such as Social Care, Early Help or CAMHS. Places are limited and allocated if agreed following a consultation with the professional and parent.

Fathers for Futures - Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities

Fathers for Futures is an inclusive parent programme to help enhance father/child relationships and raise happy confident children. The programme is for fathers and male carers of children ages 0 – 18 years old in Westminster from any background.

Using the popular ‘Strengthening Families Strengthening Communities’ parenting programme the course is delivered by Future Men, a multi-award-winning specialist charity that supports young people, boys and men (see www.futuremen.org for more details).

The programme runs for 3 hours a week for 13 weeks.

The course will help you to:

• Build positive family relationships
• Manage anger and stress
• Implement effective discipline strategies
• Gain confidence and communication skills
• Understand your child’s development
• Recognise and value your family and cultural traditions
• Meet other fathers and share ideas
• All groups end with a celebration and you will receive a certificate and a parent manual.

Best for: Fathers or male carers of children aged 0-5 years

KidsTime Workshop

Westminster KidsTime Workshops are fun groups for children and young people aged 5-18 and their parents / carers, where a parent or carer in the family has a mental illness. They offer a safe, non-judgemental place where families can come together to talk and learn about mental illness.

The workshops aim to:

• Help children and teens to make sense of how it feels when a parent is unwell, share worries and ask questions about mental illness
• Help parents to cope with the stress of being a parent while also managing mental health problems
• Help families to talk together about problems and solutions
• Provide an opportunity to meet other families who might be in similar situations

Best for: Families where a parent has a mental illness with children aged 5-18

Video Interaction Guidance (VIG) - Individual Support

Video Interaction Guidance (or VIG) is an intervention that aims to promote positive relationships between people (usually parent/carer and child)

• It involves video recording interactions between parents and children followed by discussions about it
• It helps you to recognise what you are already doing well as a parent and supports you to build new skills

When you first meet with your VIG practitioner, you will set some goals for change. This is often the first step in moving towards a better future with your family. The VIG practitioner will then arrange to meet with you and your child to take a short video (about 10 minutes). This is often in your own home but may be wherever you both feel most relaxed.

Your VIG practitioner will then look at the films and pick out successful moments to show to you the next time you meet. VIG looks at building on strengths so the film will show what is working well.

For Baby's Sake

For Baby’s Sake is a programme for expectant parents that takes a whole-family approach, starting in pregnancy and dealing with the entire cycle and history of domestic abuse, identifying and directly addressing any past trauma that lies at the heart of the issue.

It usually continues until the baby is two, covering the important time when a child’s brain is developing and bonds are forming. We focus on attachment via our Video Interaction Guidance work.

Both parents join For Baby’s Sake, whether or not they are a couple. Each has their own different practitioner. Our way of working provides the time, space and support for parents to tackle often complex and daunting issues from their own lives.

The work with each parent includes a focus on the overall wellbeing and development of the baby and any other children. Practitioners also work closely with each other and with multi-agency partners to safeguard the child and manage risks within each family member’s journey.

Best for parents who:

• Want to change the behaviours that sometimes cause hurt or fear in their relationship and family.

• Want to co-parent their baby, even if they’re not a couple or don’t live together.

• Might have experienced significant difficulties in their own childhood and want a better start for their baby.

• Are expecting a baby (ideally before 28 weeks of pregnancy) and are over 17 years of age.

Family 1st - The Alcohol Service - Bi-Borough

A non-judgemental, motivational space for parents to gain information and support on how alcohol or substance use can impact parenting and child development.

Subjects covered include:

• ACE’s Impact of parental substance use on child development
• Attachment Styles
• Parenting Styles- Positive parenting
• Communication skills
• Building resilience

The group is open to anyone who has alcohol in the mix in their home environment. We also welcome parents who feel their parenting skills may be affected because they grew up with an alcoholic parent/care giver.

Best for: Parents affected by alcohol or substance misuse

The Talking Without Fear Project

The talking without fear project is a 12 week therapeutic group programme for children affected by domestic abuse and for their mothers.

The aim of the children’s group is to:

• Provide children with a safe place to share and discuss their past home experiences.
• Help children develop a safety plan and strategies so that they know how to respond in a future emergency.
• Support children in building healthy relationships with their peers, by addressing unhealthy messages and interaction patterns.

The program runs a separate group for mothers, in advance of the children’s group and aims to support women to understand how they can help their children:

• Mothers are told in advance of the learning material of the children’s group, so they can reinforce the messages at home and aid the children’s recovery process. 
• Mothers are supported in the development of safety strategies and identification of abuse patterns. The group aims to support mothers in recognizing issues related to blame and responsibility-taking over one’s own actions.
• Mothers are supported in taking care of themselves and in recovering as survivors of domestic abuse.

Best for: Mothers and Children affected by domestic abuse.

Incredible Years - Mind Westminster

Incredible Years is suitable for children aged 3-5 years who are experiencing behavioural difficulties. We will focus on a different topic each session, using discussion, videos and role playing. There will be a home task each week to practice the strategies learnt in that session. Topics covered include:

• Play
• The importance of parental attention
• How to help children learn to regulate their emotions
• Effective praise and encouragement
• How to use rewards How to use rules and set limits
• How to manage challenging behaviour

There are 12 weekly sessions, each one hour in length.

Best for: Parents of children age 3-5 with behavioural difficulties

EarlyBird Plus

A three month programme for Parents/Carers of young children (4-9yrs) with an autism spectrum disorder and for the professionals supporting them. The programme involves 8 group sessions and 1 home visit. This programme does not replace our traditional pre-school programme but offers support for families who receives a later diagnosis. The programme involves 8 group sessions and three home visits. Each group session lasts two and a half hours and a different topic is discussed each week.

Aims:

• To empower parents/carers
• To help parents/carers to learn about and understand autism.
• To help parents/carers to learn and understand their child’s behaviours.
• To help parents pre-empt problem behaviours and handle those that do occur.

Best for: Parents of children age 4-9 yrs with an autism spectrum disorder.