The specialist Parenting Team in Stockport have become the first in the country to receive accreditation in a new parenting programme Invest in Play.

The team have been awarded as the first UK invest in Play (iiP) Level 4 Facilitators following an independent assessment from organisers of the new programme.

The invest in play (iiP) parent programme is a 12 session course for parents of children age 2-12 years. It has been developed by an international not-for-profit organisation with a mission to support children and their caregivers around the world.

The course has been shown to build children’s social skills, self-confidence and help them to regulate their emotions, helping parents with compassionate and practical strategies to support their children.

It helps many children including those struggling with low self-esteem, behavioural difficulties, ADHD and Autism.

The specialist Stockport Parenting team were the first in the country to run invest in Play as a pilot scheme between May and July 2023. The programme starts with what members of the team know works from research, and is then applied to support the parent or carer’s individual relationship with their child.

Feedback from parents and carers supported by the team has been overwhelmingly positive. One user has written ‘this course has changed my life and my family’s life too: and I know it will change many others’.

The programme is led by director Caroline White, and is supported by the Lego Foundation charity. Caroline personally presented the parenting team with their award certificates and the models of the ‘six bricks’ logo which represents the scheme.  

The specialist Stockport Parenting team is part of the Stockport Family Children’s Services, an integrated partnership of health, early years, family help , social care and education services, provided  between Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. They support parents and carers to understand the emotional and behavioural difficulties their child may be experiencing in order to improve parent-child relationships and family harmony.

The practitioners come from a variety of backgrounds in health, such as health visiting, school nursing and mental health, specialising in parent and child relationships and interventions.

Nic Firth, Chief Nurse for Stockport NHS Foundation Trust said “Our Parenting Team do fantastic work supporting parents and carers in Stockport, and it’s brilliant to see they have also been trailblazers in being the first to deliver the invest in play programme. It’s good to know they will be leading the way to provide an innovative new approach to providing the best in parental support.” 

A further Stockport-wide launch to further promote the programme is due in early 2024.

For more information please contact the parenting team at ParentingTeam@stockport.nhs.uk