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Welcome to Family Links

Family Links front page photos

Family Links is a registered charity promoting loving, kind relationships within families, schools, communities and prisons. We train parenting practitioners to deliver our Nurturing Programme in statutory and voluntary organisations across the UK. We also train school staff to promote a positive ethos in their schools.

The Nurturing Programme provides simple, effective tools to help people understand and manage feelings and behaviour. These are based on Four Constructs - self-awareness and self-esteem, appropriate expectations, positive discipline and empathy. The Nurturing Programme works effectively with all children in any setting and all parents in both group and one-to-one situations. Running the Nurturing Programme in schools through a structured 10-week rolling programme helps reduce staff stress and enables children and young people to feel emotionally safe and able to learn.

The Parenting Puzzle is Family Links’ guidebook through the Nurturing Programme for parents and professionals. Presented in a friendly informal way, The Parenting Puzzle encourages parents and carers to enjoy bringing up children and to get the best out of family life.

Latest News

We are now on Twitter. Follow us to find out what's new at Family Links.

Family Links National
Conference 2010. Our National Conference All Parents Matter took place on 2nd July at the Medical Sciences Teaching Centre in Oxford. Speakers included Professor Sarah Stewart-Brown, Warwick University, Susanna Abse, Tavistock Centre Couple Relationships, Kevin Lawrence, Barnardos, Laverne Antrobus, the Tavistock Clinic and a panel of Family Links practitioners.
Find out more about the conference.

OCN Training now booking for September. The Open College Network offers credits for informal learning. Parents can take Levels 1 and 2 if their Parent Group Leaders are trained to offer it. Parents love the chance to get more than just a certificate. Book your training now .

Training information

Final IPSOS MORI report on Teens and Parents published. The last draft of the handbook is now being written and we will publish details of an Orientation Day for trained PGLs soon. View report

New Parenting Leaflet available. To help promote your groups, Family Links has designed a new parenting leaflet in colour and black and white, for you to print off . You need to sign in to access these. No id/password? Email us.

Downloadable Posters/Flyers. Trying to market a parenting course? Looking for inspiration? Trained PGLs can now find flyers, posters and leaflets to download in our signed-in section More.

Training Dates. To see what Parent Group Leader trainings are taking place in Oxford and Hull, go to the PGL training page and scroll down to the relevant information.

To view photographs from Family Links' trainings across the UK and beyond see Flickr.

Family Links wins prestigious award from Centre for Social Justice (CSJ)

At the awards ceremony on 14th July in London, Jemima Khan presented Shirley Stephenson with an award and a £10,000 cheque to mark our pioneering work with families.

CSJ Awards picture

Copyright John Cairns Photography From left to right: Jemima Khan, Family Links Director Shirley Stephenson, Family Links fundraiser Sally Alden, Shumaila and Rosa from North School, Southall.

The Annual CSJ Awards gives cash prizes to charities, small voluntary groups and other projects that display innovation and effectiveness in addressing the causes of poverty, turning lives around and reversing social breakdown.

Zoe Briance, CSJ Alliance and Awards manager said: “We had an extremely high number of entries this year and it is an outstanding achievement that Family Links fully deserves. The judging panel commented in particular on its vision for impacting the next generation by breaking intergenerational cycles of poverty. The judges also praised the way Family Links targets the most deprived areas. Several of the judges commented on the innovative Nurturing Game as an excellent way to play constructively with children and encourage emotional literacy.”

This is a fantastic achievement and a real vote of confidence in the Nurturing Programme. Thank you to everyone involved in the process. It's your award as much as ours.

View Family Links video clip from CSJ Awards ceremony.

Visit CSJ website to learn more about the awards.

Funded Nurturing Programme Training from CWDC

The Nurturing Programme is one of the funded evidence-based trainings offered by the Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC). The CWDC is particularly keen to attract key workers who use it in family interventions.

View Family Interventions case study and The Guardian and Children and Young People Now.

To learn more about the CWDC visit their website

To learn more about the CWDC Family Links offer contact Rebecca Smith by email or by phone: 01865 401 800.

Quote of the week

The Nurturing Programme is a very valuable and effective tool, which should be incorporated into all workforces that involve children, young people and families, whether operational or managerial; as it helps you as an individual to scratch beneath the surface and find gold. If you don't find gold the first time, it doesn't mean it's not there, it just means we need to get polished up. The Nurturing Programme training gives you the tools and skills to do that.

Senior Parent Practitioner, Wolverhampton, 2010