About Us
We believe that good family life depends on confident parents. Our aim is to see training and support accessible to all parents within their locality
WHAT WE DO
1. We deliver parenting workshops and courses to parents via schools and community groups.
2. We produce literature and resources to support parents, including material designed for parents whose children have special educational needs.
3. We deliver training programmes for parents and professionals.
WHO WE ARE
We are a Registered Charity (No. 1053361) and a company limited by guarantee registered in England (No. 3162747).
Over 10,000 parents a year attend our parenting workshops and parenting courses using our resources or run by our teams. The "Time Out for Parents" course is available in most European languages and also in Urdu, Punjabi and Arabic.
Our experience in parenting support began 30 years ago in inner-city Portsmouth. Our Head Office is now in Birmingham where we also have a regional office. Our other regional offices are in Basingstoke, Hampshire and in Scotand.
Licensed facilitators present Positive Parenting courses and workshops in villages, towns and cities across the UK. Our staff are accountable, through a Chief Executive, to a Board of Trustees.
OUR VALUES
- Parent to parent, not expert to parent
- Preventative, relationship-based
- Accessible, visual, user-friendly material
- A network people that want to join and stay with.
Our material draws from the following theory and value base:
- A relationship model
- Person–centred counselling
- Parents sharing experiences
- Social learning theory
- ABC theory of understanding behaviour
- Emotional intelligence
- Special time.
FEEDBACK
Since we began running parenting groups in the community in 2000, parents' evaluations of our workshops/courses indicates a high level of satisfaction:
1. 60% said they felt more confident.
2. 94% would recommend the sessions to a friend.
3. 62% of those attending a 'Taster' session wanted to go on a longer course.
4. There tend to be far larger numbers attending a teen workshop than a primary school workshop.
(Data refers to One Stop workshop project evaluation 2000-2002.)
"It reinforced the good I was doing and made me feel more positive about being an 'at home' mummy."
"Thank you for the course. It has completely changed the way we operate as a family and has helped us all."
"I learnt how to handle bad behaviour, how to encourage my children and how to correct the mistakes I’d already made." A father who did TOFP in prison
"The quality of structure and planning in each unit, and the humour of the texts and illustrations, mean that far from demanding the leadership of highly qualified experts with a brood of practically perfect children, TOFP! could be run by anyone with the vision to see its potential." Pregnancy Crisis Centre Manager
"Subjects relevant to parents are approached in a manner which enables them to talk about parenting in a positive and constructive way." Head teacher
"I’m going back to my cell to write a letter to my daughter." A Dad after a parenting session in a prison.
"Your course was invaluable. I’d like to repeat it for all our new parents." School Vice-Principal
"That boy is now a pleasure to have in the school." Head Teacher after the mother had attended a PP course; the boy had been close to exclusion.
"Your training was fun, informal, relaxed, friendly… I also learned a lot about how groups work."
"The 14 people who attended a Time Out for Special Needs course still continue to meet. The school have invited us to go back in October to speak to new parents."
"40 dentists attended a professional training day on Special Needs. The organisers have recommended this to other Health Trusts."
"We were extremely impressed with your project and the large number of parents that you reached through your work." Home Office Family Policy Unit