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Parenting courses can provide support and guidance to parents and carers if you're struggling with the behaviour of a child, would like support to address issues around parenting teenagers or are simply seeking some hints and tips on parenting in the company of other parents and carers.
Our courses can help you find new ways and ideas to strengthen relationships with your children and young people, how to problem solve, reduce stress and understand and guide behaviour. You'll be encouraged to build upon your existing skills and learn from other parents and carers, allowing you to see that you're not on your own.
Courses
The Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) programme is for young mothers-to-be under 20 years old at conception and their partners. A specially trained family nurse will visit regularly, from early pregnancy until their child is aged between one and two.
'Baby Steps' is a 9 week course to help prepare for parenthood.
A weekly moment with others to think about your baby and the changes that will happen when they are born
Run by a Health Professional and Family Support Worker
6 sessions before baby and 3 sessions with baby
Weekly sessions (currently online) for small groups of Wiltshire families
Groups are friendly and relaxed
Content
What to expect at the birth and how to prepare
Practical tips for looking after your baby and yourself
What your baby will need and how you will know what to do
Preparing for how your relationships might be affected
How it might feel to be a new parent and what the birth partner role involves
Information and booking
Ask your midwife to pass your details to the Baby Steps team
They will contact you to tell you more
Places are limited and given based on availability and individual circumstances
If you would like to know more talk to your midwife or contact Meredith Russ, Baby Steps Lead for Wiltshire by email sft.babystepslead@nhs.net.
'Being a Parent' is an 8-week free course for parents and carers of children aged 2 to 5 years. You can learn how to better understand your children's feelings, positive strategies to manage behaviour, effective parent-child communication and much more. This fun, informative and interactive course is all about giving you the skills to manage the sometimes stressful job of being a parent.
Time Out for Parents: Children with Special Needs (TOFP) is for parents and carers of children with additional or special needs aged 3-11 years. TOFP courses are 2 hours per week for 7 sessions and are free of charge. A medical or formal diagnosis is not required for parents and carers to attend. Wiltshire Council are working in partnership with the Wiltshire Parent Carer Council to offer these courses.
Information and booking
New referrals are being accepted so please share information about Time Out for Parents with other parents, carers and colleagues.
For further details or to discuss a referral, contact Claire Turner, Parenting Groups Coordinator by email parenting@wiltshire.gov.uk or telephone 07767 230 082.
On Your Mind: Our support - support and resources for children & young people's mental health and well-being for children and young people aged 5-18 years.
Wiltshire SENDIASS - Wiltshire SENDIASS can offer free, independent and neutral information on Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities (SEND), and can give guidance to help young people with SEND and their parents/carers to make appropriate and informed choices relating to education, health and social care.
The Triple P Positive Parenting Programme is for parents and carers of children aged 5-12 years.
Triple P is a great opportunity to meet other parents and carers in similar situations - others who'll support you and share stories and ideas with you. From the start, you'll be given tips and suggestions to suit the needs of your family. You'll see video clips from the Triple P 'Every Parent's Survival Guide' which will show you how the ideas work in real life. And your workbook will give you the tools and information you need to start positive parenting straight away at home. Triple P is delivered by qualified and experienced parenting practitioners.
Triple P courses are 2 hours per week for 7 sessions and are free of charge. Courses are currently being held online via Microsoft Teams due to the pandemic and will return to the community when it is safe to do so.
For further details or to discuss a referral, contact Claire Turner, Parenting Groups Coordinator by email parenting@wiltshire.gov.uk or telephone 07767 230 082.
SWAPP is for families of children and young people with autism or who are on the autistic spectrum from preschool age to school year 13. The child or young person must have a formal written diagnosis before a family can attend the programme.
A member of staff from the child or young person's setting/school is encouraged to attend whenever possible in order to develop a consistent approach around the child or young person. Children and young people themselves do not attend sessions.
SWAPP 2 and 3 is the same course and uses the Barnardo's Cygnet Programme but is geared towards families who have children in school years 1-4 (SWAPP 2) and families of children/young people in school years 5-8 (SWAPP 3). Families will be offered either a SWAPP 2 or 3 as the course content is the same according to the needs of the child and availability of courses.
SWAPP 4 courses are for families who have not had any autism related training in Wiltshire for 2 years or more. This course has been designed by professionals in the LA with extensive autism experience and is aimed at older pupils, in school years 9-13, looking at how puberty impacts upon autism and covering communication, behaviour, independence, sex and sexuality and mental health and wellbeing.
Information and booking
Families can register using one of the following methods:
This toolkit provides clear, simple key messages to promote positive health and wellbeing in its widest sense to support children in Wiltshire to have the Best Start in Life. The information is relevant from conception through to 5 years and recognises that health and wellbeing is influenced by a range of individual, community and environmental factors.
The success of Five to Thrive is founded on the fact that it is not a rigid, one-size-fits-all programme. Rather, an array of resources, tools and training content that is available to help tailor a strategy that best fits with local needs and aims.
Central to the five to thrive approach is the set of five key activities:
Respond
Engage
Relax
Play
Talk
These are our 'building blocks for a healthy brain'. They are drawn from research into the key processes of attachment and attunement that forge bonds between young children and their carers. Crucially, they are designed to support positive feedback processes, enabling practitioners to observe and reinforce positive interaction between adults and children.
If you think a child or young person is at risk of significant harm, or is injured, contact the Integrated Front Door (IFD) on 0300 4560108, 8.45am-5pm, Monday-Thursday and 8.45am-4pm Friday; Out of Hours 0300 456 0100. If there is immediate danger, phone the police or emergency services on 999.
