Case Study - Parent Peer Mentors (Child Dynamix)

How many does it support?

• 256 Parents of young people aged 10-16 have
been supported by an a parent peer mentor
since 2017
In 2018/19 the Parents peer mentoring project
have worked with
• Number of parents Identified (referred) – 228
• Number of parents recruited (appropriate
referrals) – 166
• Number of parents taking up the service – 120

Case study of Parent accessing the Parent Peer Mentoring project

Background
Mother and Father of son aged 5 years and daughter 13 years.
At the initial visit, Mum was very emotional and struggling to deal with thoughts about abuse she had suffered as a child, which had surfaced as her life had become more settled. She was isolated, and her relationship with her teenage daughter was unsteady and she focused on the negatives in her life and struggled to see the positives.
Mum attended the Talking Teens workshops, by the Parent Peer Mentoring Project, at a HeadStart Hull secondary school as she was having issues with her relationship with her daughter. During the sessions, she often became tearful, and a worker gave her time to talk after the sessions. Following the completion of the workshops Mum was offered 1-2-1 mentoring to address her emotional needs and identify goals.

Support provided
Mum attended 4 workshops and 11 x 1-2-1 support sessions. The mentor offered the Mum the opportunity to talk about her feelings and family life. With the mentors help, Mum made a self-referral to the Let’s Talk service to address her emotional health and the mentor supported her to attend her first appointment. She made an appointment with her GP and was prescribed anti-depressants. Together they talked about self-care and made a list of strategies Mum could refer to when she was feeling low in mood. Mum identified that she would like to learn how to crochet. They researched web sites together and Mum taught herself how to crochet. With the support and motivation of her mentor, she started to re-connect with friends who she had not seen for a while and started to attend the local church group for parents. The mentor offered family nurturing parenting strategies and encouraged her to be more empathic when considering her daughter’s behaviour and feelings. With peer support, she was helped to consider the importance of having 1-1 time with her daughter. They also discussed the importance of boundaries with her children and focusing on the positives.
Mum had an interest in childcare and crafts and was encouraged to consider courses and volunteering. The mentor attended a local centre with Mum to find out about courses running.

Impact
The Mum is now attending counselling by herself and her mental health is more stable. She is using boundaries, choices and consequences to manage her children’s behaviour. The relationship with her daughter has improved and they are spending time together, something her daughter had craved before. Following a discussion with the Peer Mentoring Project Worker a referral was made to the SMASH Project for her teenage daughter to access support. Mum enrolled on a Maths and English course and enquired about childcare courses. She has applied for a job as a lunchtime supervisor at her local school and has volunteered at her son’s school to gain experience. Mum now has a new interest in crafts and crochet is one of her self-help strategies when she is feeling low in mood.
Next steps
Mum was receiving continued support from Let’s Talk and was waiting to be referred on to a specialist service for trauma therapy.

Feedback from Talking Teens workshops
“I Loved the group, nice to know I am not on my own and made new friends”
Feedback from the mentee
“My Mentor is amazing she’s helped me with my problems and got me through this.”

Feedback from other parents (mentees) who had one to one support from mentors
“I realised that I can take ownership of situations and that I do have the ability to support my family, I’m stronger than I realise".”

Feedback from parents who accessed Talking Teens Group work
“The change in my family since getting advice and doing this course has been amazing.”