Parent team is given first credit for play investment
THE specialist Parenting Team in Stockport has become the first in the country to receive accreditation in a new parenting programme Invest in Play.
The team has been awarded as the first UK invest in Play (iiP) Level 4 Facilitators following an independent assessment.
The invest in play (iiP) parent programme is a 12 session course for parents of children aged 2-12 years.
It has been developed by an international not-forprofit organisation with a mission to support children and their caregivers.
The course has been shown to build children’s social skills, self-confidence and help them to regulate their emotions, helping parents with compassionate and practical strategies to support their children.
It helps many children including those struggling with low self-esteem, behavioural difficulties, ADHD and Autism.
The specialist Stockport Parenting team was the first in the country to run Invest in Play as a pilot scheme between May and July 2023. The programme starts with what members of the team know works from research and is then applied to support the parent or carer’s individual relationship with their child. Feedback from parents and carers supported by the team has been overwhelmingly positive. One user has written ‘this course has changed my life and my family’s life too: and I know it will change many others.’
The programme is led by director Caroline White, and is supported by the Lego Foundation charity.
Caroline personally presented the parenting team with the award certificates and the models of the ‘six bricks’ logo which represents the scheme.
The specialist Stockport Parenting team is part of the Stockport Family Children’s Services, an integrated partnership of health, early years, family help, social care and education services, provided between Stockport NHS Foundation Trust and Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council.
They support parents and carers to understand the emotional and behavioural difficulties their child may be experiencing in order to improve parent-child relationships and family harmony. The practitioners come from a variety of backgrounds in health, such as health visiting, school nursing and mental health, specialising in parent and child relationships and interventions.
Nic Firth, chief nurse for Stockport NHS Foundation Trust said: “Our Parenting Team does fantastic work supporting parents and carers in Stockport and it’s brilliant to see they have also been trailblazers in being the first to deliver the invest in play programme.”