A Case Study With parents In Dacorum
Dacorum DSPL (DSPL Area 8) is one of 9 areas in Hertfordshire Delivering Special Provision Locally to improve the range of provision and support services available for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, aged 0-25. One of the aims of the initiative is to improve outcomes for wellbeing and attainment.
Bounce Forward began working with DSPL8 at the start of the pandemic. At a time when the whole country was in the midst of lock downs, furlough and huge uncertainty from week to week. There was an urgent need to preserve wellbeing and build resilience at a time when it was genuinely needed.
We supported 1,508 parents and their children
What did we do?
In the first months we provided Raise Resilience – a series of online sessions that supported parents to develop the knowledge and skills to effectively look after themselves and practical ways to help their children build the mental resilience and emotional wellbeing they needed to help deal with the pandemic. Parents supported one another by sharing experiences during the sessions, were guided through the skills by our expert trainers and explained how to apply them at home. Practical resources and materials were provided for parents to use whilst home schooling their children.
What happened beyond the lockdowns?
We continued to deliver our full range of courses for parents
Anxiety Unravelled – explores anxiety to ask what it is, where it comes from, how to talk about anxiety with children and most important how to help them understand and deal with their own anxiety.
Navigating Transitions – this deals explicitly with being able to cope well with change and uncertainty. Initially this focused on the return to schools after lockdown and then broadening out. The way parents approach the changes their children face can be the difference between a stressful or a manageable transition. This course provided practical activities to encourage a growth mindset.
Compassion and Resilience – was designed specifically for DSPL8 to include in the package of support for parents. The sessions explored compassion as a human quality that is more essential than ever for children to develop.
100% of parents strongly agreed or agreed with the following four statements:
I found the course useful personally
The skills learnt will be useful with my children
This approach can help improve things at home
I would recommend this course to others
Moving Forward
We continue to work with DSPL8 and are delighted to take what started during a really difficult situation, to a standard element of the support available for parents.
Coming up in 2023, we have Anxiety Unravelled starting on 7th March and Navigating Transitions starting on 13th June. We are looking forward to welcoming a new group of parents.
