“Step by Step”

Anne Attenburrow explains how her group meets the needs of vulnerable families in Moray by connecting with outside organisations.

One of our churches in Elgin has a thriving traditional parent and toddler group called “High Jinks” but I noticed that some of the more vulnerable mums felt quite intimidated by this environment and had stopped attending.

“Step by step” was started as an 8 week pilot project in November 2008 to meet the needs of those families. It was so successful that it has continued as an ongoing project, seeking funding support for its first three years. It is deliberately a small group with a high ratio of volunteers to support the mums. New members have come from Health Visitor referrals and personal recommendations, but the project is widely publicised.

The aim of Step by Step is to provide a friendly, relaxed and welcoming environment for isolated and vulnerable families, enabling them to develop friendships and skills which will enhance their lives and, in doing so, show Christian love in action. One of our inspirations is 1 John 3:18: “My children, our love should not be just words and talk; it must be true love, which shows itself in action.”

As well as the mutual support they gain from the group, we seek to listen to the parents, determine what their issues are and find ways to meet their needs. So far we have had sessions on baby massage, art and craft, exercise, careers advice and baby first aid. Future visitors will hopefully include an Occupational Therapist, a Speech Therapist and representatives from the Credit Union and the Adult Education Service. We also intend to use material from Care for the Family’s 21st Century Parent DVD in the group.

Some of our visitors were contacts from my previous career as a consultant paediatrician but others have been the result of speculative emails. Generally the visitors have been well received; people have been extremely generous and keen to help. They have rarely required a fee for their services.

The mums have generally been willing to “have a go” at the new things on offer, although when the dance instructor turned up with her pole a few eyebrows were raised!

Relationships with individual mums are important too. I do home visits and, as a minister in the Church of Scotland, this has led to conversations about my faith as well as a request for a baptism. Other volunteers have been asked for counselling and one family wanted to use the Christmas Party for a supervised access visit.

The project continues to develop and with £23k of match funding from the Parish Development Fund and £10k from Children in Need we are in the process of interviewing for a part-time Family worker to take it on “step by step”.