Home Start Volunteer Opportunity

Are you a parent or grandparent living in Northern Ireland?  Would you like to join other parents to help support families with young children?  With Home Start you can support local parents to give their children a happy and secure childhood whilst building skills and contributing within your own community.   Watch the Home Start video below for more information and contact details.

 

 

CYPSP members share models of practice in Prague

 

The Regional Family Support Hub Coordinator with local hub coordinators from across Northern Ireland and Education Authority recently travelled to Prague at the request of the Department of Labour and Social Affairs in the Czech Republic to represent CYPSP at their European Conference. The Czech conference was an opportunity to share models of practice including partnership working, Family Support Hubs, the CYPSP Interactive Mappying System and the Education Welfare Service. 

 

In November 2017 Helen Dunn, Regional Co-ordinator for the Family Support Hubs along with Local Hub Co-ordinators; Karen McLean (Upper North Belfast) ,Edith McManus (Lower North Belfast ) and Lisa Grant (Craigavon /Banbridge ) along with Anne -Marie Bagnall representing the Education Authority travelled to Prague at the request of the Department of Labour and Social Affairs in the Czech Republic.

 

A number of Czech delegates spent time in Northern Ireland in August 2017 exploring models of best practice and from this requested CYPSP to join the Department of Labour and Social Affairs and over 260 delegates to share information on the CYPSP partnership working , the role of Family Support Hubs, the CYPSP Interactive Mapping System and Education Welfare Service in Northern Ireland. 

The outcome of the conference was that the Department hope to replicate some of the work presented across their own principalities and also hope that the information shared would encourage greater collaboration across the statutory , voluntary and community sectors in the Czech Republic.

 

Contact Us:

For more information please contact Helen Dunn, Regional Family Support Hub Coordinator by email at helen.dunn@hscni.net 

 

CYPSP Chair commends work of Lower North Belfast Hub at recent visit

 

Hugh McCaughey, Chair of the CYPSP recently joined the Lower North Belfast Hub family support meeting, which is co-ordinated by Christine McKeown and Edith McManus from the Ashton Centre.

Mr McCaughey was particularly impressed by the range of agencies connected to the Hub in this area who are involved in early intervention and making a difference in children`s lives. The collaboration between agencies across the community ensures families have access to a range of supports.

 

Mr McCaughey, Chair of CYPSP and Chief Executive of the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust reflects on his recent visit to the Lower North Belfast Family Support Hub meeting “I was really impressed by how well the group worked together with the clear aim of supporting families and children. The collaboration and the way people pulled together was really impressive and I have no doubt of the added real benefit to the community and families who are supported”.

 

Referrals to the Lower North Belfast Family Support Hub comes from a range of sources including schools ,GPs, Gateway Teams and Health Visitors as well as directly from parents.

The feedback from parents is very positive and they often state they appreciate having a Hub Co-ordinator to go to who will  find the appropriate service to meet their needs.

 

For more information about family support hubs click here

Click here to download the latest Belfast HSC Trust Family Support Hubs Report Card for 2016/17

 

Contact Us:

For more information about the Lower North Belfast Family Support Hub please contact Christine McKeown or Edith McManus from the Ashton Centre on 028 9074 9986.

 

The 1+1 Project Bilingual Mental Health Project

A collaborative Stronger Together Initiative for early intervention bilingual Mental Health Support that is being piloted in three areas across N.I:

  • Dungannon (Portuguese / English)
  • Ballymena/Ballymoney (Polish / English)
  • Belfast (Chinese / English)

The project is available to support individuals in the minority ethnic community experiencing depression.

 

What will the project do?

  • Provide Mental Health Services for example; counselling, training, direct group activities etc. These already exist. It will help increase access to them.
  • Provide free interpreting to providers who have a responsibility to deliver their services to everyone regardless of linguistic capability. The Regional Interpreting Service exists. It will help support access to that service.
  • It will help inform shared learning on how to meet that demand in the future by creating more effective and diverse pathways to existing services and more diversity in delivery of those services.

 

Click here to find out more about the project

 

Click here to download a copy of the referral form

 

Home Start 2017 Impact Report

In the past year local Home-Starts have supported 28,926 families with 59,628 children.

By focusing on individual needs, home-start helps families identify their own strengths,
increasing their potential to make changes that will improve their lives. Home-Start is committed to supporting families that most need help and works hard to engage families who feel excluded within their community. With the support of a volunteer, families develop skills needed to access services, counter isolation, build confidence and learn to cope.

 

 

Click here to download a copy of the 2017 Impact Report