Article: Peer Led Mellow Parenting Programme

3 February 2016

Article: Peer Led Mellow Parenting Programme

The work of One Parent Families Scotland’s (OPFS) Peer Led Mellow Parenting Programme has been highlighted in an article on the Scottish Government website.

Through delivering one to one and group work support services in North Lanarkshire, the programme has identified that targeted parenting programmes to support the most vulnerable parents is required to help improve outcomes for children in the early years.

OPFS has received over £1 million from the Scottish Government Third Sector Early Intervention Fund over the last three years and, has recently been awarded funding for a further three years – receiving £354,000 in 2016-17.

Peer led Mellow Parenting (MP) Programmes were developed to improve the parenting capacity of lone fathers and young parents and OPFS has received funding through the Early Years Change Fund to test this work in North Lanarkshire using Early Years Collaborative (EYC) Improvement Methodology.

The MP family of programmes has been developed to support parents and their children to build good relationships. The foundation of the programme is attachment theory with particular emphasis on the transmission of attachment and relationship styles over generations. This relationship based intervention promotes positive parent-child interaction and the strength of this programme is that it does not dictate how to parent but instead it aims to change parents’ philosophy.

Peer Mentors

To enhance the MP programme a tailored package of support is provided by volunteer Peer Mentors to all families taking part, to address any issues or concerns quickly and encourage participation. Peer Mentors are lone fathers or young parents and act as positive role models. They co-deliver the programme alongside professional workers and their observations are an important aspect of measuring the impact on families. Since September 2014, four programmes have been delivered with eight to ten parents participating in each. Improvement, using EYC methodology, tests and measures the effectiveness of the programme:

  • 79 per cent of parents felt a significant decrease in in overall stress levels
  • 83 per cent of parents reported a decrease in intensity of daily hassle such as shopping with and dressing and feeding children
  • 75 per cent of parents reported an increase in confidence when dealing with challenging situations.
  • 79 per cent of parents have reported improved interactions with their children – such as reading and playing with them and in turn they feel better able to recognise and respond to their children’s feelings.

Peer and professional observations have also reported an increase in appropriate social behaviour and that children are more ready to take part in play and social activities within their home and in groups within their local community such as Bookbug and play groups. Parents have also reported that they are now less socially isolated. There has also been a significant increase in uptake of local services and relationships with Social work, Health, Addiction Services etc have improved. The programme has been extremely successful in allowing parents to share their life stories, address the root cause of their problem and seek the specialist support they need to move on in their lives.

The full article is available from the Scottish Government website and more information on the Peer Led Mellow Parenting Programme can be found on the One Parent Families Scotland website.

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