Families First Awards - 2023

Our Families First Awards are a great way of celebrating the fantastic work that takes place across the early help services in Hertfordshire.

Our first Awards took place in 2019 and then the second Awards were postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic. So it would make sense to continue with the awards taking place every 2 years.

So the next Awards will be taking place early in Spring 2023!

This gives us all plenty of opportunity to really showcase the great work that has taken place and plan to celebrate the individuals and teams that have gone above and beyond in providing early help to families.

We are always open to ideas and suggestions on how to make this event fully inclusive and a great celebration, and of course innovative ideas to keep it low cost, but special ! Please email familiesfirst.support@hertfordshire.gov.uk should you have any ideas or suggestions.

Building Life Chances - Informal Youth Activities Grant Application now open!

Do you or can you provide youth activities in Hertfordshire that:

• are informal
• operate outside of school term time, and
• do not require pre-booking or fees to access?

We are now accepting applications for the Informal Youth Activities Grant as part of the Building Life Chances programme. This is a multi-agency programme addressing the impact of Covid-19 on Hertfordshire residents who are vulnerable.

The pandemic has been tough for many young people who may not have had the opportunity or confidence to meet with friendship groups informally and may now have increased anxiety affecting their wellbeing. Therefore, we welcome applications from locally based community activities for young people aged 12-17 years that run all year round.

Each district in Hertfordshire will be able to access £25,000 for 2022-23. Grants will be awarded for any amount up to the maximum amount for that district.

Please email buildinglifechances@hertfordshire.gov.uk for further information including an application form. The closing date for applications is 11.59pm on Thursday 31^st March 2022.

We want as many organisations as possible to have the opportunity to apply. Please share this opportunity as widely as possible with any organisations that you work with or that may be interested.

Please also keep your eye on our Grants page for other grants available.

A great start for babies and young children

The programme is for parents or carers of children aged 0 to 5 years old. It is free to join.

Everyone wants the best for their children, but with so much conflicting advice it can be hard to know what to do for the best as a parent, especially in the early years.

The HENRY Healthy Families: Right from the Start programme is running locally. Join the thousands of families across the country who have benefited from the support and tips it provides for young families.

Research shows that the key ingredients to ensuring babies and young children have a healthy start in life are:

• Parenting confidence
• Physical activity for little ones
• What children and families eat
• Family lifestyle habits
• Enjoying life as a family

The programme covers these 5 themes across 8 weeks and provides everything you need to help get your little one off to a great start.

Download the leaflet and find out more here:- http://www.henry.org.uk 

Plan for Children and Young People 2021-26 Animation

In our last edition we announced the publication of ‘Our Way Forward - Plan for Children and Young People 2021-26’ . We thought we'd show you this great animation which talks through the plan and the five ambitions.

To view the Plan, Strategic Priorities and an animation of the ambitions visit: www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/planforcyp

Many of our strategies contained within this Plan and other key Children’s Services strategies are publicly available at: www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/csstrategies

 

Have you heard about our Professional Promise?

We’re asking for 5 mins of your time to see if you have heard about Hertfordshire’s Professional Promise by please completing a super short survey before 28 February.

The Promise underpins the new SEND Strategy 2022-2025 and frames how professionals should support children and young people (CYP) with special educational needs and /or disabilities and their families, no matter which organisation or service is delivering them.

The launch of the new SEND Strategy provides a perfect opportunity to remind ourselves of the Professional Promise.  The Promise was co-produced a few years ago with Herts Parent Carer Involvement (HPCI) and colleagues from health, education and social care services. It’s possible that with staff changes and a pandemic, some professionals aren’t familiar with the Promise; that’s fine.  We will use the survey information to support services to get to know it.  We ran the same survey this time last year and only 25% of respondents had heard about the Promise.  We’re hoping this number has increased and hope that when completing the survey you will  think of examples of how you are fulfilling the Promise in your day to day work.  These examples could then be shared with families to increase their confidence in our services.

We’re asking staff across children’s services, education and health care partners to complete this survey, so apologies in advance if you receive a link to the survey more than once!

 

Finally, if you haven’t yet had a chance to digest the SEND Strategy 2022-2025, then please do so.  In short, the SEND strategy is for all staff in Hertfordshire, who support CYP with SEND 0–25 years, across education, health and social care.  It sets out the actions we are taking together to achieve five ambitions: tailoring, enabling, providing, collaborating and succeeding.  It also helps families and young people in Hertfordshire, to understand the actions the SEND workforce is making to deliver inclusive, person-centred services across SEND.

 

Thanks so much for your help.  The Professional Promise survey closes 28 February. 

What is HappyMaps?

HappyMaps is a charity developed by GPs and CAMHS professionals with help from parents and young people. We’ve pooled what we think are  some of the best mental health resources for parents and carers, and for young people and children, in one place.

In addition there is also a good professionals area with links to teaching and learning resources on Mental Health and Wellbeing.

Money Advice Unit has a bigger HERT

As part of the County Council’s Building Life Chances programme, the Money Advice Unit is able to launch a new service for children and families who are struggling financially. The existing Hertfordshire Economic Recovery Team (HERT) has been extended to include benefits advice and assistance to families who have suffered financial difficulties during the pandemic. Most families have experienced financial stress during this time which has been exacerbated by the increase in the cost of living, healthy food often not being affordable, changes in the benefit system and of course the increase in fuel charges.

The project aims to enhance the benefits advice available locally to aid their financial recovery and embed future financial security and literacy.

Launched in February 2022, working county-wide for 24 months, the project aims to reach 550 families to ensure they are in receipt of their full entitlement. Our advisers will deliver specialist benefits advice including casework, advocacy, and appeal representation as required.

To request a referral form please email:

mauadmin@hertfordshire.gov.uk

If you have any questions regarding the project or would like to arrange for one of our advisers to visit a group you support, please contact juliette.veal@hertfordshire.gov.uk

Also please see our article on the FREE online training available for professionals.

IAPT Psychological Wellbeing Webinars HPFT IAPT

We have made accessing support to improve emotional wellbeing even easier. The new webinar menu provides detailed information about our free webinar programme that can be easily shared with all residents.

Our webinar programme provides educational and practical help to support attendees to learn relevant Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) techniques to make positive change in their life. All webinars can be easily booked for free on our website using our short sign-up form: https://www.hpft-iapt.nhs.uk/resources-and-self-help/webinars

The webinar menu includes information about all our available webinars including their benefits, key topics, and links to register.  We would encourage you to use this webinar menu as a quick and easy guide to support patient/clients to access our support. This resource can also be shared directly with clients, staff members and HR teams by email, on your website/intranet or via your social media channels.

One of our service objectives is to ensure that anyone who could benefit from our support is aware of what we offer and easily able to access it. We do this by sharing helpful resources with key stakeholders to support them to communicate information directly with patients/clients who would benefit from additional mental health support. 

Who are HPFT IAPT?

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT) provides access to primary care psychological therapy services in Hertfordshire and Mid Essex.  These services are part of the national initiative, Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT), and include a wide range of confidential talking therapy treatments and practical support for adults with common mental health problems. 

Click here to watch our short animation video to find out more about our service.

HAPpy Camps back for Easter

From Monday 4th to Thursday 14th April, HAPpy Camps will be running again all over Hertfordshire.

Bookings open on Monday 14th March, at which time families will be able to use the activity search tool to find the most appropriate activities their children. All camps will offer a minimum of four hours’ of physical and enrichment activities, food education and an all important hot meal!

HAPpy Camps is the name for the Holiday Activity and Food programme (HAF) across Hertfordshire. Each Easter, summer and winter school holidays, camps run by our network of trusted professionals will be available for children to attend, and experience a variety of new and exciting opportunities like foraging, trampolining, crafting, music making, drama and so much more.