East Staffordshire Family Support Service / Harvey Girls / Dads4Dads

Local Offer
Family Support Service logo

Need support?

Call our Connect Line for free information and guidance: 07841 485866

We offer free, confidential and non-judgemental support for families.

We support the whole family… your wellbeing, boundaries & behaviour, meeting emotional needs, education & learning, progress to work, family routine, keeping children safe, physical health, social networks and home & money.

Our Family Support Workers are Enhanced DBS checked and qualified to a high level.

Thinking Differently – Learn & have fun whilst bonding with your child

As a registered charity, we are funded by Lottery Community Fund to deliver our ‘Thinking Differently’ project.

Make a referral now to our free Thinking Differently sessions

Harvey Girls Sessions

Inspirational, innovative and interactive sessions aimed at local Mums and their children from a wide range of backgrounds and circumstances. An energetic, welcoming, safe and engaging group setting with activities and ideas to encourage and support positive parenting, confidence and helping the child to be ‘school ready’. Peer-support can be enjoyed through meeting other Mums, helping to reduce isolation, providing a sense of connection, purpose, belonging and hope. For children, Harvey Girls provides the opportunity to interact with others, have fun, get active, develop and enhance their communication and listening and enjoy learning new skills through new experiences. Harvey Girls is centred on sharing knowledge, experience, emotional, social or practical tips and guidance for the benefit of the whole family.

Make a referral now to Harvey Girls sessions

Dads4Dads Sessions

Inspirational, innovative and interactive sessions aimed at local Dads and their children from a wide range of backgrounds and circumstances. Dads4Dads offers a programme of active, energetic and engaging activities in a safe, non-judgemental group setting. Activities will encourage Dads and their children to participate in games, challenges and creative tasks, with the aim of embedding positive relationships and an emphasis on physical interaction and play. We cater the content of Dads4Dads sessions around our Dads and children’s needs and what topics they would like to experience together, such as offering a Trading Card Game (TCG) club or sports activity. Peer-support can be enjoyed through meeting other Dads, helping to reduce isolation, providing a sense of connection, identity, pride and courage. For children, Dads4Dads provides the opportunity to interact with others, have fun, get active, develop and enhance their communication and listening and enjoy learning new skills through new experiences. Dads4Dads is centred on giving Dads a voice, enabling quality time to be spent in a structured environment, encourage better emotional regulation and behaviour and practical tips and guidance for the benefit of the whole family.

Make a referral now to Dads4Dads sessions

Mixed Martial Arts Sessions

A whole family-orientated group offering mixed martial arts in a safe, accommodating and welcoming gym setting. Sessions are structured around a warm-up activity, then a main activity observing martial arts techniques by trained professionals, with the opportunity to put the techniques into practice in a supported environment. Professional equipment is provided including boxing gloves, kick-bags and other props. Healthy light refreshments are provided for parents and children to promote a link between healthy eating and physical activity. Our Martial Arts group aims to teach children about boundaries and discipline, listening skills and self-control. This is done by instilling positive behaviour, mutual respect and supporting emotional regulation. Parents are encouraged to participate in the techniques as they observe their children progress as they learn and practice new skills and will see the benefits of improved self-confidence, self-esteem and enhanced communication skills in their child. Our Martial Arts group is fun, energetic and a real highlight of the week for all who attend.

Make a referral now to Mixed Martial Arts sessions

Music and Movement Sessions

Music and movement sessions facilitate an educational experience based on learning through play. These sessions run alongside Harvey Girls and Dads4Dads. Parents can participate to enhance and expand children's enjoyment of the world around them by singing songs and rhymes that are well thought out, educational, and most of all great fun to sing. Songs use short, simple repeated phases and safe resources which excites them and to which parents can readily relate covering the language and communication objective within the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage). Strong melodies, interesting song structures and clever rhymes all linked to the EYFS framework in a multi-sensory way help children discover their body; develop strength, coordination, balance and a perception of the space around them. These sessions encourage parents to interact with their child, giving them full attention, supporting positive attachment, social, emotional and brain development – critical to young children within the first 1,001 days. Music and Movement sessions can be adapted to an age-appropriate audience.

Parenting Programme

Based around the Circle of Security principles, our 7-week parenting programme aims to enlighten parents to understand their child’s emotional world by learning to read emotional needs. This programme runs alongside Harvey Girls and Dads4Dads. Sessions will include insight on how to emotionally develop and support your child’s ability to successfully manage emotions, in addition to enhancing the development of their child's self-esteem. Parents will learn about their child’s inherent desire to be secure and safe whilst exploring their inner emotions.

Be Well, Be Energy Fit

Free support is available to local families around family wellbeing, energy saving and home safety. This service is free, funded by Cadent, the gas distribution network, who work in partnership with us to help families to stay warm, safe and well. Support is available to all families - renting, own your own home with a mortgage or if own your own home outright. Our free service includes providing free carbon monoxide alarms, awareness of the signs and dangers of carbon monoxide, home safety and support with money issues if required. For families living in private rented homes or owning their own homes, free gas appliance safety checks can be provided by Cadent's team of Gas Safe Registered Engineers.

Make a referral now to Be Well, Be Energy Fit

Social Prescriber for Children and Young People (South East Locality Healthy Communities) (0-19 years)

Our Social Prescriber takes a holistic approach to families’ health and wellbeing, sitting within the current local provision of Social Prescribers. The service aims to help connect children, young people and families with their wider community networks. The Social Prescribing service is referral-based using the “Joy App.”

Social Prescribing for Children and Young People aims to provide earliest help, enhance emotional wellbeing and achieve health and social objectives. These objectives include engaging young people with GPs, signposting to universal or specialist services, information and guidance, including the promotion of home safety to prevent accidents in the family home and reducing A&E/GP attendance. The approach is centred around supporting the whole-family, including extended family members such as Grandparents. One of the key aims of Social Prescribing is to help families improve awareness of, and improve connectivity to community networks. The restorative intervention we offer through Social Prescribing enables families to make decisions in a timely fashion, to be more resilient, achieving better health outcomes.

Need support? Call our Connect Line now - 07841 485866 or email support@harveygirls.co.uk

‘Thinking Differently: Bringing Communities Together’

This project aims to tackle loneliness and isolation for the whole family, with the objective of enabling people of all ages at any time in their lives to feel safe, well and connected to their community. Our support achieves this by enabling the family to have a voice, be heard, be supported through engaging with community services and be connected with each other. This service is aimed at supporting families who are more vulnerable, less connected to community networks, less likely to have an awareness of, or reach out to statutory or specialist support services or primary health care. Once a family is identified and presents with a support need relating to loneliness and isolation, a Family Link Worker will make contact with the family to meet them in their own family home. The worker uses the Outcome Family Star to enable the family to self-score on 7 key areas of support: ‘Physical Health’; ‘Emotional Well-being’; ‘Keeping Your Children Safe’; ‘Social Networks’; ‘Boundaries & Routines’; ‘Child Development’; ‘Home, Money & Work’. These are rated on a scale of 1-5, with the scale underpinned by a five-step Journey of Change: ‘Stuck; Accepting help; Believing and trying; Learning what works; Effective parenting’. The family are then supported, restoratively, to increase their resilience in areas identified through the Outcome Star. This will be achieved over three visits if required to achieve a satisfactory outcome, tracking the journey of change through the Outcome Star journey tracker. Our approach and the support we offer through this service makes a sustainable and significant difference in creating a resilient community, reducing loneliness and isolation for all people of all ages, at any time in their lives.

Need support? Call our Connect Line now - 07841 485866 or email support@harveygirls.co.uk

Our Work With Schools

We are proud to work in partnership with Abbot Beyne School to provide School Link Workers. This innovative service has been developed in response to each school's individual needs, where our trained, experienced staff work closely with the school using a holistic, whole-family approach. Our support focuses on pupils who require additional support, including those with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities). Our School Link Workers aim to reduce barriers to attending school, in order to maximise resilience and for parents to be active, responsible participants in their child’s education. We engage children and young people on pathways to maximise their own and their families’ attainment and aspirations, celebrating their positive outcomes with the family and the school. With a School Link Worker, schools have an enhanced ability to address the social, emotional and support needs of the whole family, encouraging well-being and developing self-esteem and confidence. We challenge and help the whole-family contribute to positive behaviour, taking an active interest within school and their communities, enabling all family members to become responsible and respectful members of their community. Our School Link Workers are passionate about empowering children and young people and their families to make appropriate choices, to improve their educational attainment. Are you a School or Education Provider? Contact us now to enquire about our School Link Workers at support@harveygirls.co.uk

Are you a School or Education Provider? Contact us now to enquire about our School Link Workers

Our History

We’re proud to have supported families in our community for over 19 years. East Staffordshire Family Support Service evolved from Harvey Girls, founded in 2004 with the aim of guiding young Mums through the everyday issues that they may be facing. These sessions offer parent-focused activities and support for mums and their children, covering a wide range of topics to engage and inspire. Dads4Dads was established in 2011 offering support groups for Dads – practical, fun and educational sessions to motivate and inspire. The welcoming and friendly group setting helps Dads from a range of backgrounds to meet others, helping them to play and bond with their children; whatever their preconceptions of fatherhood.

We welcome self-referrals from families, in addition to referrals from professionals. You can find out more information from our website, call 01283 533449 or email support@harveygirls.co.uk

Need support? Call our Connect Line now - 07841 485866

Who to contact

Contact Name
East Staffordshire Family Support Service
Telephone
07841485866 07841485866 01283533449 01283533449
E-mail
support@harveygirls.co.uk
Website
East Staffordshire Family Support website
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Facebook
East Staffordshire's Family Support Service - Facebook

Where to go

Name
East Staffordshire Family Support Service (Main office - Horninglow)
Address
73, Horninglow Road
Horninglow
Burton upon Trent
Staffordshire
Postcode
DE14 2PT
Notes

Please note that visits are not currently permitted on site due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Availability

Referral required
Yes
Other notes

Chief Executive Officer - Ian North

Email: ian@harveygirls.co.uk

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