Solihull Approach: New, free online courses supporting emotional health and wellbeing.

Children and Family Community Services is proud to announce its recent partnership with the Solihull Approach, an NHS organisation, to provide free online courses that support emotional health and wellbeing in children, families, and adults.

The States of Guernsey and Government of Jersey are jointly funding a multi-user license, enabling all families within Guernsey and Jersey to access a comprehensive range of online courses for free, through the online learning portal InOurPlace.

They are designed to support families at every stage of their journey, from pregnancy to adolescence to help empower parents and carers to better understand their child’s brain development, decode their behaviours, and develop nurturing relationships which can help children to thrive.

From antenatal courses that lay the foundations for healthy mental wellbeing and practical advice to courses for those caring for children with additional needs and ones focused on understanding your own trauma or learning about relationships.

Key highlights of online courses include:

• Understanding your child’s emotional health and brain development: Parents will
  gain insights into the science behind their child’s brain development, helping them
  make informed decisions that support healthy cognitive growth.
• Reading your child’s behaviours: These courses will provide parents with tools to
  interpret and respond effectively to their child’s behaviours, fostering positive
  interactions and reducing stress for both parents and children.
• Developing communication: Parents will learn strategies for open and effective
  communication that will strengthen the parent-child bond and promote emotional
  well-being.

Alex Hawkins-Drew, Associate Director of Public Health, said:

“We are delighted to be able to offer the resources from the Solihull Approach to all families within the Bailiwick. It is a great example of partnership working and a panisland approach that will reap rewards across Guernsey and Jersey. We understand that parenting is not always smooth or easy. However, by providing families with the information and knowledge to understand behaviours and relationships we can support the development of positive, nurturing child-parent relationships. The resources accessed through InOurPlace provide free, evidence-based courses spanning from the antenatal period right through to the teenage years. The courses are delivered online and can be accessed at the most convenient time for the parent or young person and followed at their own pace. It is not our intention that these courses replace the valuable work already undertaken by the universal services provided by Maternity Services, Health Visiting and School Nursing, but these act as a complimentary offer.”

To access the courses, Guernsey families will be able to visit: inourplace.co.uk/jersey-andguernsey. You need to follow the simple registration process, inputting the access code WELCOME. People who access the InOurPlace webpage will be required to input a Guernsey
postcode to gain free access to the online courses, but don’t need to submit any personal information.

This initiative has cost £4,000 which has been paid for from the Children and Family Community Services existing budget.