Outreach

Welcome to the Outreach and Family Support Work page.

There are four of us in the Outreach team: Belinda and Rukhsana who joined in 2008 and Lili and Antonia who joined in Spring 2010. We work across both The Lloyd Park Centre and Higham Hill Children’s Centre.

Working to fulfil the Centres’ inclusion strategy we work in each centre’s Open Door activities as well as targeting and reaching out to families in need in order to give them equal opportunities.

We welcome new families at the various health sessions and stay and play activities such as Parent and Toddler, Toy Library and Hatchlings. During these we promote what’s available, explore with families which sessions might be most useful for them and encourage them to attend any other appropriate services. We also introduce families to each other. We run some of the stay and play activities which can give users a ‘known face’ to look for when they attend sessions for the first time and can encourage less confident families to attend.  We can often be found at other medical centres, local events and school and community fun days spreading the word about the centres’ activities and registering families.

Our other key role is offering families in need intensive support through 1:1 contact or home visits using the Family Partnership Model. We work with the family to identify their individual needs, help them to create strategies and goals and support them in achieving them.  We deal with a wide range of issues including home safety kits, housing, benefits advice, childcare, isolation and parenting support. Families benefit from our Multi-Agency team of health visitors, midwife, dietician and speech and language therapist. Families are usually referred either by our Multi-Agency team or other professionals. However if you are in need of support or advice you can self refer by contacting one of the team at either of the centres.

While the majority of our work falls within William Morris or Higham Hill wards our You and Your Child Project allows us to help parents of 0-5 year olds across the borough to encourage them to access and engage in community life. Working borough wide also enables us to provide continuity of support with transient families.

We work with partners such as The Salvation Army and Higham Hill Library to provide our Doorstep Library Service, a project which reaches out to families on the Priory Court Estate to build relationships and trust and encourage them engage them in our activities.

For more information contact Antonia Fernand, Senior Outreach and Family Support: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)