Chapter 1: Give every child the best start in life
Case Study - Steve Sullivan: Team Manager in the Early Help Service at Gateshead Council.
I am responsible for Gateshead Children's Centres and Play Service teams. Gateshead's Children's Centres provide activities and services for children under 5 years and their parents/carers. This includes activities designed to support the child's development and prepare them to start nursery. Our Children's Centres and linked sites also give help and advice on child and family health, parenting, money, training, and employment.
Gateshead's Play Service provide play activities for children and young people aged 5-17 years. Play activities offer valuable respite for families and social opportunities, physical activity, sensory play, and lots of fun for children and young people.
Our Parent Outreach Workers report that women in Gateshead may be vulnerable due to lack of social support, language barriers or mental health problems. Young mothers can face social stigma which can make parenting stressful.
To tackle this, we work with our social care, health, and education partners to identify vulnerable and disadvantaged mothers and offer them support to access our activities and services. This may include reaching out and attempting to build a relationship before their first visit. Parent Outreach Workers then try to reduce some of the barriers to accessing our services such as travel, cost, and confidence.
Our Children's Centre team is relatively small, so we rely on partnerships to provide the activities and services required. Our partnerships help bring services to Children's Centres including mums talk with talking therapies, Citizens Advice drop in and football for women and girls. It is vital that we continue to build on these partnerships and support our partners to deliver their services through the development of our Family Hubs approach.