FAMILY WELLBEING CENTRES Eight Family Wellbeing Centres offering support and guidance

We are family

Offering health checks, childcare, parenting workshops, money management and more, there are now eight Family Wellbeing Centres across Brent.

Offering health reviews for under fives, afterschool activities, childcare, support services for parents including parenting programmes, money management and more, there are now eight Family Wellbeing Centres across Brent.

Staff are on hand to help, from early pregnancy through to a child’s 18th birthday or up to 25 years old for young people with special educational needs.

They also offer programmes for dads, advice and guidance, english courses, and getting back into employment. No wonder the centres are proving hugely popular!

To find out more visit: www.brent.gov. uk/familywellbeingcentres

Money will go towards helping young people with special educational needs and disabilities by opening a centre to help those over 16 prepare for adulthood

One family’s journey to getting help

A Brazilian family of five recently settled in Brent, having arrived here from Portugal. Tomás*, the dad, was the only English speaker, the mother, their two boys aged 15 and seven along with their two-year-old sister only speak Portuguese. When Tomás registered online, he completed the ‘getting to know your family’ form and said he needed support for his wife, Ana*, to learn english, as well as advice on keeping fit, healthy cooking, employment support and help with education for their older son, including assistance with managing his behaviour. Tomás’ working hours had also been cut due to the pandemic and the couple were struggling to feed their children and pay the bills. So, the Family Wellbeing Centre team helped the family with benefits and access to the local foodbank and free school meals and supported Tomás to find work with local employment services. The team helped Ana, who was keen for her two-year-old child to learn english, to secure a nursery place close to home. Their family support worker also helped the children gain access to their online lessons from school. Another meeting with Ana, her 15-year-old son, and an interpreter helped to assess the teenager’s needs, and resulted in him becoming more engaged with school, and signposted them to an organisation to support his emotional wellbeing, which led the son to becoming calmer.

*names changed to protect identities