Family Hubs Network Lead

I’ve worked for children’s and families in Stockport for 9 years. Before that I worked for a youth work charity and love it when I see families reach their potential and overcome whatever difficulties life throws at them.

The Family Hubs teams want to offer more than just health service or council service options when families come asking for some help. We want local groups and projects to be the solution, if that’s what is most suitable for that child young person and their family. So it's up to me to make sure the Family Hubs supports those hidden gems of community groups and projects and helps them grow so that they can help as many people in their area as possible. At the same time I’ve got to make sure that when people ask for help from the Family Hub Network in their area, we respond quickly and with the right information. And that response could be from any of the diverse parts of the network, health visitors, youth groups, parenting support groups or council services, for example.

I'm absolutely chuffed that people can access information from local places like leisure centres and libraries. It's so convenient for people to pop in to their local centre, think through what might help their family, check out the options on the website with some help and support from someone they trust in that place. It's great that we can offer information and options without long referrals, assessments to council services and that people can get help over the phone or on the web on their terms. It’s a really exciting time to be involved in changing the way people get information and help for their family how and when they chose to do so.