How we can help

There are three main types of support the PSA Service is able to provide, these are as follows:

Parenting support programmes - this includes linking with existing provision or directly facilitating groups where they are not currently available.

Individual one-to-one parenting support - this aspect of support to parents focuses on enhancing parents abilities to encourage their child’s learning. It may be that this will mean support in terms of developing more positive parent-child relationships, but could also include support in providing parents with strategies and techniques for dealing with behavioural issues. PSA staff can also work with families to prepare them before taking part in parenting programmes.

Parenting advice and information - we provide early parenting support interventions that include giving universal information appropriate to parent’s needs. It might also include signposting to sources of more specialist support where this is necessary.

Who we can work with

This service is universal and open to all parents who have children of school age.

We work with parents who may be facing a range of different issues, these may include:

• work with parents, in a schools context, where presenting needs are below the thresholds that trigger the involvement of specialist services and other agencies (we cannot accept referrals with a higher threshold of need)
• work with parents whose children’s attendance does not meet the threshold for ESWAS (Educational Social Work and Attendance Service)
• work with parents of children who have been excluded
• we can support parents whose child may have a CAF (common assessment framework)
• we can support parents at meetings
• we can support parents whose children are making school transitions.

If a referral does not fit within the remit of the service, we will do our best to signpost to agencies that will be able to provide specialist help.