Professionals working with families to benefit from funded courses
by Educate Magazine December 20, 2019 · Education News
Professionals working with families in Merseyside can benefit from funded Youth Connect 5 (YC5) courses that will run from December to March 2020.
Developed in response to ‘Future in Mind’ (FiM), a report that contains recommendations from a group of agencies and organisations jointly chaired by NHS England and the Department of Health, whilst supporting Local Transformation Plans and emotional health and wellbeing strategies, YC5 adopts a prevention approach by up-skilling families and carers.
Speaking about the course, Tony Niemen, mental health promotion worker at Merseyside Youth Association explained: “Parents and carers play a pivotal role in promoting the knowledge, skills and environment that can help children cope with adversity.
“We recognise parents as experts on their children; this course is designed to be supportive and build on the knowledge, skills and expertise that some parents and carers already possess.”
Funded by Merseyside’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), and facilitated by Merseyside Youth Association, Youth Connect 5 features a ‘train the trainers programme’. Once trained, YC5 professionals will then deliver this training to parents and carers within their areas, equipping them with the skills and understanding they need to enable them and their children to develop resilience and emotional wellbeing.
Outcomes of YC5 include:
- Building upon parents’ and carers’ knowledge, empathy, skills and attributes to promote and strengthen children and young people’s resilience and emotional wellbeing
- Strengthening parents’ and carers’ own levels of resilience
- Increasing confidence and ability to explore different ways to support their children; and
- Improve/enhancing relationships parents/carers have with their children.
The course will also ensure parents and carers are familiar with how to access information, support and services available to them.
More information on Youth Connect 5 can be found at www.youthconnect5.org.uk
