Exciting news from Best Beginnings

Best Beginnings, a charity dedicated to informing and empowering parents who want to maximise their children's long-term development and well-being, recently undertook a 'Babies in Lockdown' report which we created in collaboration with Home-Start UK and the Parent-Infant Foundation. They listened to the experiences of over 5,000 parents across the UK, to discover how families have been struggling during the pandemic and developed three clear Policy “Asks” including the Parent Infant Premium, which you can read more about here.

Parents 1st Essex are excited to share Best Beginnings' new collaboration which responds to what was learnt through Babies in Lockdown. In partnership with Barnardo’s, through their See, Hear, Respond programme, they are providing emotional support to expectant and new parents across England between now and the end of October. See the dedicated web-page where families can find out more and sign-up for free remote support: bit.ly/BBSignUpForSupport  

Parents 1st Essex is inviting you to spread the word using #BBSeeHearRespond to help ensure that thousands of parents benefit from one or more of these three packages of support:

1. Online daily advice and support: Daily information, access to hundreds of films and to other support including the confidential 24/7 Crisis Messenger text line. This is delivered via their NHS approved Baby Buddy app.

2. Group support: A series of three antenatal or postnatal sessions with c. eight parents or parents-to-be covering a range of topics including managing anxiety and stress, preparing for birth, responsive feeding, and "Understanding your baby". The sessions are run by two experienced facilitators, one of which is a midwife or antenatal educator.

3. Therapeutic support: For parents that would benefit from one-to-one support, three hours of free customised support delivered by phone, or online by experienced practitioners.

Find out more about Best Beginnings' See, Hear, Respond support, visit their website.