Home-Start Edinburgh

We were delighted to welcome Maree Todd, the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport, to Home-Start Edinburgh during Challenge Poverty Week earlier this month. The Minister visited one of our baby massage groups and talked with families about the impact of parenthood on mental health, and the challenges faced by parents with small babies in accessing local resources. The Minister commented “I found it very encouraging to hear from parents about the positive impact that Home-Start has had on their lives, particularly in helping them to make connections with other people. It was also interesting to hear reflections on some of the challenges families face around housing, finances, social isolation and access to nursery places, and the impact that these can have on mental health.” We are very grateful to the Minister for coming along and listening to the families we support, and for her interest in Home-Start Edinburgh’s work.

It was a pleasure to welcome Vivien Waterfield CBE, the Deputy Chief Executive of Home-Start UK, to our office in Leith yesterday. We enjoyed a warm and convivial roundtable discussion, sharing the work we do, the challenges we face, our ambitions and our hopes for the future. We heard about Home-Start UK's exciting campaigns, updates on their work at a national level to put the early years firmly on the political agenda, and opportunities to reinforce and support our work locally. It was lovely to see you, Vivien – haste ye back!

Alongside Home Link Family Support, Circle, Stepping Stones North Edinburgh, NHS Lothian’s Parent and Infant Relationship Service (PAIRS), Citizens Advice and City of Edinburgh Council’s Early Years Education, we are recruiting a Whole Family Wellbeing Practitioner. This is a full-time role with our exciting new partnership project, ‘The Family Hub’, which aims to improve family wellbeing, reduce inequalities and the need for crisis interventions, and increase the number of families taking up wider support. Full information can be found on Goodmoves: https://lnkd.in/eS3X7SKR

As the Charity of the Month for July for Edinburgh Community Bookshop, we were delighted to receive a wonderful donation of £962.92 from their profits last month. This is an incredible sum towards our work supporting Edinburgh families, and we are so grateful to the volunteers, staff and customers for their support. Please do pop in if you're in Leith, as they have a great selection of titles for both adults and children!

Home-Start Edinburgh are delighted to have received a grant from the Scottish Children's Lottery Trust to help fund our specialist Perinatal Support Service. This service will provide dedicated support for people experiencing perinatal and infant mental health issues. The project will work in partnership with NHS Lothian, and will support more than 80 families over the next year. The Perinatal Support Service aims to improve the relationship between babies and their primary carers, as well as supporting babies’ cognitive, social, physical and emotional development. The Scottish Children’s Lottery Trust believe that every child in Scotland deserves the very best start in life, and aim to ensure that children and young people in Scotland have the opportunity to grow and develop to their full potential, no matter the circumstances they were born into. We’re grateful that they have chosen Home-Start Edinburgh for funding.

We are so grateful for the support of FWB, who have chosen Home-Start as their Charity of the Year. Over the past few months, FWB have modelled how a successful business–charity partnership can work. Their team have generously shared their expertise, insights, time and connections with us, from Board to grassroots level; meeting with our CEO to discuss governance, but also showing up to our family summer events to build sandcastles and find seashells! We appreciate their willingness to listen to our needs and to explore how they can help, and are excited about where this can take us together. Thank you!

Home-Start Edinburgh are hiring! Come and work with us. Full details and information on how to apply can be found here: Senior Co-ordinator https://ow.ly/SAPC50SOTMt Family Support Co-ordinator https://ow.ly/f2Sg50SOTMs

It's been so fab having Emma on board!

Not only are we the charity partner of Edinburgh Community Bookshop for July, but we were over the moon to receive this wonderful donation of picture books. Our volunteers will be able to share these books with families on their home visits, and it refreshes our choice of books for children to enjoy at our summer family events. This book bundle went straight from the bookshop into the hands of families at our Davidsons Mains family picnic, where they got a huge thumbs up from the babies and toddlers! Thank you to the team at the Edinburgh Community Bookshop for their support. And, if you're in Leith, please do drop in and get your summer holiday reading sorted – Home-Start Edinburgh will benefit from all sales this month so now is the time to pop in.

Some of the Home-Start Edinburgh team met with Lizzie from Smart Works Scotland today to learn about how Smart Works empowers women and develops their confidence to succeed. We also shared information about Home-Start Edinburgh's work with families and our impact. Comparing experiences and identifying areas of overlap was really helpful – we're looking forward to working together to support the women in our Home-Start Families achieve their potential.