Prevention and Family Advice

Our vision for our Prevention and Family Advice offer is for children and young people in Lewisham to thrive, reaching their full potential and able to take full advantage of the opportunities available to them in Lewisham, London and beyond.' 

Prevention and Family Advice offer describes support available to children, young people and families up to the level of statutory or specialist intervention. It is there to support from pre-natal stages up to the age of 18 years (25 years for those with SEND). It includes information and advice, universal services, open access services and more tailored support for children, young people, and families.  

‘Working together to safeguard children’ (2023) is the statutory guidance which details the vital role of effective early help intervention for children at risk of poorer outcomes. It emphasises that all agencies have a collective responsibility, to identify, assess and provide effective prevention and advice services.  Our LSCP Family Help Continuum of Need Document will help you assess the level of support needed or risks present. Professionals should refer to the continuum of need document before making a FFCP request.

Within our Prevention and Family Advice offer there are both information and advice services. These services work together, ensuring the most relevant and focused plans and interventions are in place:

• Family Information are services that all children and families can access (for example, Family Hubs, Children Centres, GPs, Schools, Early Years, Community organisations etc.)

• Family Advice are services for children and families that have multiple needs which require a multi-agency intervention (for example, Family Thrive). The Families First Contact Point (FFCP) is the single point of entry for referrals to Lewisham’s Family Thrive Service.

Family Thrive 

Family Thrive is a consent based Family Advice Service.

Family Thrive works with families who have children aged 0 to 18 years, (and up to 25 years for SEND) who may require tailored parenting support to help them be happier and healthier. We work closely with schools and other professionals with consent. Consent from the parents/carers must be gained at the point of referral.
Family Practitioners undertake a Family Advice Record & Plan, and develop outcome-focused plans in line with Signs of Safety and in a way that promotes holistic and family led planning

The Family Practitioner is the lead professional and work alongside partner agencies as part of the multidisciplinary Team Around the Family and provide tailored parenting support and undertake direct work with children and young people.

Parenting Support 

Instances where there is low level or emerging concerns might result in referrals  to the Prevention & Family Advice service for tailored parenting support from the Family Thrive Service. Skilled Family Practitioners will undertake focused family based interventions for a fixed period of time working with parents to sustain positive parenting practices and ensure all appropriate support needs are provided.

Parents can also attend any of Lewisham’s Family Hubs for support, advice and access to parenting support such as:

Family Navigators

You can talk to one of our Family Navigators who are based in our Family Hubs offering free, confidential and non-judgmental support if you are a parent or carer living in Lewisham.

Owl Babies Course

During this course we share ideas, talk about the challenges of being a parent, support mental and emotional wellbeing using Five to Thrive, Nature and the outdoor environment.

Baby Massage

Our baby massage courses aim to support your bond with your baby through easy to learn, gentle and positive movements whilst enjoying relaxing and special one to one time together.

Triple P for Babies

Triple P for Baby programme aims to prepare parents for a positive transition to parenthood and the first year with baby, promoting sensitive and responsive care in the perinatal period

Staying Healthy

At Lewisham Family Hubs Families can sign up for and collect FREE Vitamin D and attend Weaning and Healthy Eating Sessions and Courses.

These include:

• Starting Solids
• Portion Sizes
• Fussy Eating

Visit www.lewishamfamilyhubs.org for more information, timetables and details of Family Hub locations

Non-Violent Resistance-Informed Parenting Programme

• The programme is aimed at parents and carers of pre-teen children (aged 8 years and over) experiencing challenging/violent and extreme behaviours.
• NVR is a concept that draws inspiration from those who have sought to bring about changes in society in a non violent manner.
• The programme offers a series of tools and techniques to support parents and carers of children and young people who display challenging attitudes and behaviours.
• Parents are guided through a set of core principles based on the idea of carefully planned actions to help support the management of challenging behaviour.

Triple P (Positive Parenting Programme)

• Positive Parenting Programme, is a broad-based parenting programme for parents and carers of children aged between 2-10yrs who are struggling to manage aspects of their children’s behaviour.
• The programme is 6 to 8 weeks long made up of 4 mandatory classroom sessions between 2 and 4 individualised 1:1 sessions.

Children Overcoming Domestic Abuse (CODA)

• CODA is a twelve-week recovery intervention for mothers and their children who have experienced domestic abuse. We are currently delivering to children in Years 3 and 4.
• Running concurrently, CODA provides two-hour sessions for mothers and their children on a weekly basis. Each week covers a specific theme and programmes are divided into age appropriate groups. Note: siblings cannot access the same group.
• CODA seeks to support the recovery process and aims to:
• Validate the children’s experiences
• Reduce the self-blame that is commonly associated with children experiencing abuse
• Develop a child-appropriate safety plan
• Manage emotions appropriately
• Enhance the mother-child relationship
• Enable both the mother and child to heal together

The Juniper Programme

• The Juniper Programme has the same aims as the CODA Programme but is delivered to children under the age of four years and the adult survivor.

More information on all Family Hubs service can be found at www.lewishamfamilyhubs.org.uk.