Post-pandemic free relationship help for Dorset parents
Has your relationship taken a hit because of the pandemic? The programme aims to improve communication between parents
Help's at hand to build better family relationships post-pandemic for parents in Dorset.
There's no doubt tensions rose throughout the pandemic as mums and dads took on the role of teachers, and got used to full-time childcare.
Now, a scheme that helps parents is launching a two-fold appeal to both potential participants and professional practitioners who are in contact with parents.
The free programmes aim to help participants improve communication between themselves and the other parent.
It's called 'Healthy Families, Healthy Futures' and they are encouraging parents to come forward for support.
Samantha Stevens helps run the scheme.
She said:
"There is no doubt that the pandemic has put an extraordinary strain on many family relationships,"
"Over the last few months, most families have had disruptions in their lives because of the pandemic and for families that's been really hard hitting when they've got young children at home.
"It can cause tensions in the family that possibly weren't there before, but also if there was already tension there it could heighten that tension."
Samantha says communication is the most common issues between parents. She says the scheme's aimed improving it:
"It reframes the communication between parents so that it's more positive and they're looking at how their communication may impact the other parent."
Since its launch in 2019, the programme has helped more than 400 participants and is managed by local partners throughout the South West of England. In Dorset the intervention is delivered by Whitehead-Ross Education and Consulting.
Individual sessions are managed by local partners who provide skilled facilitators to help participants evaluate their relationship with the other parent, and improve ways of communicating, to ultimately benefit their children.
Samantha added:
"During the pandemic we have changed our mode of delivery to online sessions which have proved very successful with participants and enabled us to continue our much needed service during lockdown.
"However, it is important to stress that this programme is not appropriate for parents dealing with incidents of domestic abuse, where there is an imbalance of power and one partner may feel fearful of the other."
You can find out more by registering an interest with a professional support contact.