The Flintshire Parenting Framework and coordination supports services in their work with parents. The service offers advice in relation to Welsh Government guidance and research, offers qualifications and training for professionals, and brings together groups of professionals to keep positive parenting at the heart of all work across Flintshire. The service also provides a link to National and regional plans and strategies.

Y Teulu Cyfan are a home-based support team working together with families to tackle issues faced in parenting and family life. Specific pieces of work are carried out with families fully in control of the pace. Using child development models and informal/formal parenting courses and strategies the aim is to build confidence in families, tackle issues, reduce isolation and promote positive family experiences in line with the Welsh Government Guidance for Families First.

Family Group Meetings

Family Group Meetings are a process that brings together families and children to work together to identify their views and needs and discuss with the whole family a way to address and meet these difficulties together. The aim is to empower families and put them in control of their own solutions as well as working towards a joined-up approach to the resolving difficulties. This in turn improves the wellbeing of families.

Visit the Parenting. Give it time. website.

Parenting. Give it time. - balancing screen time

Parenting. Give it time. - routines

Top Tips - Screen Time from Y Teulu Cyfan

Home-Start is a national charity with a local Flintshire community network of trained volunteers who can provide expert support to help families with young children (under 11) through their challenging times.

Home-Start works with families in communities right across the UK. Starting in the home, our approach is as individual as the people we’re helping. No judgement, it is just compassionate, confidential help and expert support.

Home-Start volunteers visit families at home each week, supporting parents experiencing many situations including, isolation, bereavement, multiple births, illness, disability and when families are finding parenting a bit of a struggle. The aim is to provide practical, non-judgemental support and to build a family’s confidence and ability to cope with life’s challenges.

Last year Home-Start supported 56,000 children in 27,000 families, in communities across the UK.

Visit the Home-Start website

Daffodils is a local parent led, self-help group for physically and mentally disabled children and their immediate families. Daffodils caters for all disabilities and provides social events, peer support and access to services. The activities run across the whole of Flintshire and are aimed at encouraging sibling involvement, reducing isolation, and encouraging family friendships.

Find out more about Daffodils on the Holywell Leisure Centre website

Advance Brighter Futures are a mental health and wellbeing charity, established in Wrexham since 1992.

Advance Brighter Futures’ approach to personal recovery is not a medical treatment or therapy. It is the process of building a meaningful and satisfying life as defined by the individual experiencing mental health problems. The charity is very hands-on and retains a lot of people who have benefitted from services as volunteers. Advance Brighter Futures values and utilises the diverse life experience, skills and time of its members, trustees, staff, and volunteers.

We can offer;

A Parent's Guide to... (Group Sessions)

Available for mothers and fathers living in Flintshire with a child under the age of 18, our 'A Parent's Guide to...' mix of courses and drop-in sessions have been designed to help you through the challenges of parenthood. Learn practical skills and tools to help to improve your ability to cope and enjoy better relationships. 

Unwinding Your Mind

Join us for our FREE online drop-in sessions where we'll explore relaxation, mindfulness, wellbeing and self-care tips!

Learn ways to help you with stress and anxiety and improve your overall health and wellbeing.

Supportive, interactive and friendly online group with a mixture of sharing information, guided practical exercises, and the opportunity for a chat.

Sessions will include breathing exercises, mindfulness and meditation, but we welcome your feedback and would love to know what YOU would like in these sessions! 

Fortnightly drop-in sessions start 4 May 2023

Thursdays 12pm-1pm

Access online via Zoom video conferencing software

Cost: FREE 

Weekly Parents Support Group

An opportunity to meet and discuss all things related to parenthood with other mums and dads who ‘get it’. Either based in an indoor play centre or a walk and talk with other parents around Alyn Valley's idyllic setting, please see below for details.

Tuesdays 9:30am-11am

Alyn Waters Country Park
Mold Road
Gwersyllt
Wrexham
LL11 4AG (meet in main car park)

Managing Stress and Anxiety

This FREE course is made up of 6 interactive online sessions and is designed to help parents manage difficult emotional states. You will get to explore and understand more about stress and anxiety and discover how to change the way you are thinking, including practical ways to help you reduce symptoms.

Visit the Advance Brighter Futures website

We have Counselling Students on placement who can offer 1 to 1 Therapeutic intervention to adults who have experienced their own difficulties or trauma which is affecting their ability to parent their children appropriately.

We also offer a bespoke Intervention for families where a Parenting Programme has been completed and assessment indicates further Intervention around communication is needed to prevent family breakdown.

Visit the Action For Children website

Flintshire Families Disabilities Service (FFDS) at Action for Children provides opportunities and builds links to enable social interaction, get people out in the community and develop life skills.

This is a short-term service who support disabled children, young people and families based on their needs and choices.

Our promise to you is to discover what is important to your family and deliver support and useful strategies to help overcome any barriers and achieve your goals over a 6 to 12-week period.

We use a variety of methods to deliver our support from face-to-face sessions at home and in the community, Microsoft Teams virtual session and our inclusive clubs for all ages and abilities.

Flintshire Family Disability Service

Our promise to you is to discover what is important to your family and deliver 1:1 support and useful strategies to help overcome any barriers and achieve your goals over a 6-to-12-week period.

Our Young People have the opportunity to attend social clubs and groups with peers and experienced Support Workers.

Action for Children - Flintshire Families Disabilities Service

STAND North Wales CIC is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company that supports families with children and young people with speech, language communication needs, additional needs, and disabilities in North Wales. STAND is a parent-led organisation and offers parent support groups, listening ear request phone calls, training, family and activity days, Online Youth group, Early Years programmes and more.

Visit the STAND North Wales website

NEWCIS Young Carers support all young carers under 25 in Flintshire including any with a disability.  NEWCIS Young Carers provides support by:

• Offering support, advice, and information
• Holding ‘What matters conversations’ allowing NEWCIS to assess Young Carer needs and find out what’s most important to them
• Peer and community support, including young carer groups and peer support scheme
• Regular updates via quarterly newsletter and social media channels
• One to one support and signposting
• Activities, trips, and social opportunities
• Engaging young carers in informing service development and community initiative
• Time off from caring roles, grants, and counselling

Visit the NEWCIS website

Brokerage

Brokerage is part of Early Years and Family Support within Flintshire County Council, and the funding is used to part fund a Childcare Brokerage Officer (CBO) – observing the needs of young children and offering tailored advice and guidance to support both the child and childcare settings. The CBO offers a variety of support at meetings and to settings and their work includes:

• Attending weekly funding delegation panels (supporting decisions made in relation to the Childcare and Play grant allocations)
• Statement writing
• Placement review meetings with the childcare team

The CBO will also offer parents with disabled children an accessible signposting route to other organisations.

Additional Funded Support Grant and Equipment / Resources / Training Grant 2022 - 2023

Youth and Disability Wellbeing Programme is a referral only initiative of a wellbeing programme to support early intervention for young people who have a disability, who are not currently active and would like to improve health and wellbeing through sport and physical activity. Referrals will be linked with provision that is appropriate, supportive and will allow for continued participation and progression beyond the referral period. Bespoke support sessions in local leisure and community centres and much partnership work has taken place with a wide range of community sports clubs

• All referrals will be screened by health professionals for their suitability to take part in Youth and Disability Wellbeing Programme.
• All referrals are designated a support worker and an assessment is made as to the level of support which is needed with a particular family and/or individual.
• Funded sessions - however, this will differ based on identified needs at the assessment stage and dependent on the activity
• Ongoing support and information for those eligible or not.

For any further information please contact the Wellbeing Coordinator at 01352 702481 or kirsty.hughes@aura.wales

Action for Children have been successful in achieving positive outcomes for Flintshire’s children, young people and families with complex needs since 1997 through the Flintshire Family Project.

The service contributes to a package of support designed to address recurring problems or patterns of behaviour that are harmful to children, young people and families wellbeing.

Flintshire Family Project provides a bespoke service to young people aged 11 to 25 and families with packages of Therapeutic Interventions designed to increase resilience and wellbeing.

The service promotes positive relationships between parents /carers and their children. Key staff will support families with specialist Therapeutic Interventions this could be 1 :1 family or group work and can also offer Individual Counselling for parents through their student Counsellors on placement.

Families and young people have been supported with for example prevention of family breakdown, childhood abuse, parental incarceration, domestic abuse, challenging behaviour, stress /anxiety bullying and bereavement.

Visit the Action For Children website

FLVC is the umbrella and support organisation for over 1200 voluntary and community groups based in Flintshire, providing support on all aspects of setting up and running a community group or voluntary organisation, including funding advice, help with constitutions, registering with the charity commission, recruiting and managing volunteers and a whole range of other topics.

FLVC develops partnerships with voluntary and statutory organisations in Flintshire and works in collaboration with other agencies to develop projects in response to community needs.

The Volunteer Centre at FLVC offers a programme for young people to try out some volunteering and, if they want to, gain a qualification through their volunteering.  Upon completion of a workbook, young volunteers are awarded with a certificate for Level 1 Voluntary Work Skills Accredited Course

The programme is free to people:

• Aged 14 and over
• With no experience of volunteering
• Who have volunteered before and would like to try something else
• Who would like to volunteer but aren’t sure how to start

For more information about volunteering in general and about this project, please visit our website: Volunteering (flvc.org.uk)

Flintshire Youth Service are part of Flintshire County Council’s Education and Youth portfolio. One of their projects funded by Families First is the Flintshire County Council Resilience project.

The Youth Service work is underpinned by the five pillars of Youth Work:

1. Young people are thriving.
2. Youth work is accessible and inclusive.
3. Voluntary and paid professional youth work staff are supported throughout their careers to improve their practice.
4. Youth work is valued and understood.
5. A sustainable model for youth work delivery.

Working with young people 16-25 in Flintshire, Resilience offers an individual package of assistance to help improve confidence and wellbeing. Initially meeting with young people at home with the support of a parent or carer, then working with the young person on a one-to-one basis, with a view to and them joining a small social group. The project provides a safe, confidential environment to improve Resilience and supports young people until they have achieved their chosen outcomes.

The project offers young people a bespoke package of assistance mentoring and supporting them in a variety of ways. (From helping to obtain and paint a new flat, to job searches and lifts to interviews.) This bespoke offer ensures that young people gain the best outcomes from the service. 

Tel: 07769303546
Email: resilienceteam@flintshire.gov.uk

NEWCIS Young Carers support all young carers under 25 in Flintshire including any with a disability.  NEWCIS Young Carers provides support by:

• Offering support, advice, and information
• Holding ‘What matters conversations’ allowing NEWCIS to assess Young Carer needs and find out what’s most important to them
• Peer and community support, including young carer groups and peer support scheme
• Regular updates via quarterly newsletter and social media channels
• One to one support and signposting
• Activities, trips, and social opportunities
• Engaging young carers in informing service development and community initiative
• Time off from caring roles, grants, and counselling

Visit the NEWCIS website

Youth and Disability Well-Being

YDW is a referral initiative wellbeing programme to support early intervention for young people ages from 11-16 with Adverse Childhood Experiences, who are not currently active and would like to improve health and wellbeing through sport and physical activity. Referrals will be linked with provision that are appropriate, supportive and will allow for continued participation and progression beyond the referral period. Bespoke support sessions in local leisure and community settings working in partnership with a wide range of community sports clubs.

• All referrals are designated a support worker and an assessment is made as to the level of support which is needed with a particular family and/or individual.
• Ongoing support and information for those eligible.

Aura - Youth and Disability Well-Being