Achievements
In addition to the successful mediation, counselling and parenting support services we provide, we continually seek opportunities to make a positive difference to families through other activities and projects.
Separated Families Partnership
In 2009 Families Talking was chosen to deliver one of ten national pilots funded by the Child Poverty Fund and the DCSF (now the Department for Education). Delivered in Hartlepool, the Separated Families Partnership involved Families Talking as the lead agency in a partnership of services including specialists in domestic violence, fathers' issues, and welfare benefit advice. Together as a partnership, and working with Hartlepool's Team Around the Primary Schools (TAPS), we were able to make a significant and positive difference to the welfare of local families.
We carried out a consultation with service-users who benefited from this, our 'Separated Families Partnership' pilot project, which showed that, for example, 75% of parents reported improvements in mood, their ability to cope and the management of their children's behaviour and feelings, and Dads felt they had improved their parenting skills and their relationship with their child.
Parenting Shop
Through another who benefited from this pilot project, funded by the DCFS's Parenting Fund, we launched the 'Parenting Shop' in Redcar and Cleveland. This provided separated families with one-to-one support, access to mediation and children's counselling, contact club activity and parenting workshops. We also developed and delivered OCN accredited training to multi-agency professionals on the impact and effects of separation and divorce on families, and the OCN accreditation was also extended to the parenting workshops.
Working with Schools
Our work with local schools under a recent contract with Middlesbrough Borough Council and the TaMHS programme (Targeting Mental Health in Schools) has been very successful. Headteachers, children's support workers and the local authority are keen for our services to continue with even more schools in the future.
New developments and activities will be posted on the News section of our website.
