Midlothian Sure Start Centres
FAMILY REACHOUT
Mayfield (Full time - Open Monday to Friday)
TU Hut, Combined School
Mayfield
0131 660 6644
Family Reachout offers a community based family support service for young families in Mayfield, Easthouses, Newtongrange and surrounding areas. We are based in the grounds of Mayfield and St Luke’s Combined Primary School in our own purpose-built building which is bright, welcoming and well equipped with the added facility of a secure garden area. We provide nine structured 2-hourly sessions per week. We also offer a drop-in service during the week to encourage a sense of belonging and community within Family Reachout. The provision is for families/main carers with children predominantly under 3 years old who are looking for extra help and support in a friendly non-judgemental environment. We offer a bright, safe and stimulating playroom for the children where they will be encouraged to reach their full potential with the help of their parent/carer and trained staff. The parents/carers are encouraged to join in our “Family Focus Groups” with the children giving them new experiences in their lives, i.e. painting, gluing, story telling, singing, hand puppets and mixing with others. Our 0-1 Family Focus Group has the added benefit of baby massage with our qualified staff. The Family Focus Groups are fun and our parents really enjoy this time with their children; the walls in the playroom are always colourfully decorated. We are always open to new ideas and sharing new experiences with our very young children and are very community-aware, using local knowledge to expand the young child's opportunities and experiences.
We offer weekly support where our registered families have time out to "chill out" and also to discuss, in a confidential setting, issues they may be finding it difficult to cope with in their every day lives. The parents have benefited from doing group/individual sessions on parenting skills and alternative/complementary therapy and group sessions for healthy lifestyles, such as cooking skills. The centre also has the benefit of a Counsellor on a regular basis. Play Therapy is offered at Family Reachout and we have a fully-equipped play therapy room. Skills for modern living are explored periodically, within our groups, such as first aid, confident parenting courses, literacy and numeracy skills, Hands-on, practical art and craft type activities are routinely explored and are fun!
We aim to have regular family trips outwith the Centre such as Butterfly Farm, East Links Farm Park, Happy Castle.
We are a project-user led service: You tell us what you would like to see happening in your Centre and, together, we will try our hardest to make it happen!
Kate Downey
Co-ordinator
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