Mums suffering with loneliness urged to reach out as kids head back to school
Lancashire charity Home Start are reaching out to isolated parents this school term as youngsters head back to the classroom.
The charity have revealed around 40% of mums and dads surveyed admitted to feeling lonely and in need of more support.
In response to the growing number of mums and dads experiencing feelings of isolation, the charity are providing weekly peer support groups, in which parents can meet others in similar positions and re-build confidence.
Home Start also carry out home visits to accommodate for parents who don't feel ready to venture out into group settings.
Angela Melling runs home start in Lancashire. She said:
"Loneliness within parents is a huge, huge issue. When you're a parent, you can just spend weeks not speaking to another adult, sometimes you get so lonely you don't have the confidence to actually go out so it's a bit of a downward spiral.
"When children first head to school, the parent might leave that child and they can feel quite isolated, its like what now?
"Suddenly you have that six hours a day and there is nothing there. If you haven't got a job and you haven't got a good network of friends and family around you it can be very lonely.
"What we try to do is support these families, with a volunteer to get out and about. Some parents find it difficult, they've lost confidence, suddenly you forget yourself, you forget your hobbies and everything you do revolves around the children."
For more information you head to the Home Start web page: https://www.home-start.org.uk/