Time for action on inequalities in maternity care

Read Southwark Maternity Commission’s report and recommendations, aimed at tackling systemic issues facing women of colour.

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Parenting

Partners delivering parenting

FEH is working closely with other partners who have been commissioned by Southwark to provide a range of parenting courses, interventions and group work programmes within the borough. FEH are aware of the other parenting resources that are on offer and are connecting with other partners to ensure that we are all joining up to avoid duplication, and most importantly identify where the parenting need/requirement will be best supported, and parents are signposted to the right place to receive the right support, at the right time. 

Empowering Parents, Empowering Communities (EPEC) – Being a Parent -Together Couples Conflict Course

The aim of this initiative nationally across four sites including Southwark is to:

  • develop a refined version of the EPEC programme (EPEC-C) specifically focussed on the needs of parent couples at risk of conflict
  • assess EPEC-C programme feasibility, parent engagement and experience, and impact and parent conflict, parenting and child outcomes

This EPEC parenting programme in Southwark aims to deliver three - Being a Parent -Together Couples Conflict Courses. While largely based upon proven core elements of the original EPEC programme - Being A Parent there will be a refinement and amplifying of programme content and methods that are particularly effective for couples experiencing conflict difficulties to improve couple and family outcomes.

Each site will deliver three EPEC Being A Parent – Together Couples courses for up to 18 couples, a total of 72 couples/144 parents. Courses will be delivered by male and female trained EPEC parent group leaders supported by trained and experienced supervisors.

EPEC - Fourth Wave partner site

We applied to be a Fourth Wave partner site to begin in 2020. There is strong evidence to suggest that EPEC builds service-community partnerships and grows quickly, multiplying the reach of services without undermining existing provisions.

FEH is keen to help support the delivery of this programme in the borough (see our parenting schedule for details (PDF, 150kb)).

Empowering Parents Empowering Communities (EPEC) - Being A Parent, Parenting Programme

This course is delivered by Parent Facilitators who themselves have undertaken the EPEC Parenting Programme before becoming trained facilitators. EPEC is an 8 week evidenced based model for parents of 2-11 year olds devised by the South London and Maudsley, the Centre of Parent and Child Support. This programme is based on the best of the current theoretical and practical knowledge and provides an alternative model to practitioner-led parenting interventions. 

The programme focuses on what it means to be a parent, the positives and challenges faced, the importance of parents having time for themselves and supporting child parent attachment in a non-threatening way. It encourages parents to consider behaviour that inadvertently encourages unwanted child behaviours. Parents learn strategies for discouraging unwanted behaviours, promoting positive behaviours in children and improved communication and family interactions.

Kids Time Southwark

Delivery sites:

1st Place Children and Parents Centre

Rye Oak Primary School and Children’s Centre

Rotherhithe Primary School and Children’s Centre

  • Kids Time workshops are a fun, safe and supportive environment for families who are affected by mental illness; we've found that when children and young people understand more about their parent’s illness, discuss it in the family, and have a supportive adult to talk to, this increases their resilience and ability to protect their own mental health
  • parents say the workshops improve their confidence and sense of pride, and reduce their risk of relapse; the project will reach up to 324 members of families where at least one parent has a diagnosed mental health problem
  • the focus of the project will be to help families with children of primary school age and a total of 9 innovative arts based group programmes will be delivered across the borough; each programme will consist of 12 fortnightly after-school workshops. The workshops will last 2.5 hours with up to 12 families able to join each group
  • workshops are ‘non-treatment’ educational sessions that encourage families to discuss mental illness and help to diminish the social isolation, stigma, confusion and fears that a child of a parent with mental illness may experience
  • the workshops offer a fun, protected space where children and young people can express themselves, interact socially, share experiences and learn about mental illness through discussion, games and drama
  • specialist staff will explore mental illness and its effects to children and young people in a way they can understand and help them to articulate; the workshops also provide adults with an informal space where they have the opportunity to share experiences and discuss their role as parents rather than patients
  • the project will work with schools, Mental Health Services and Early Help Services to ensure that the families most in need are brought together and to create an effective borough wide intervention

Page last updated: 21 August 2024

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