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The webinar will draw on emerging findings from ‘Flourish: Family Help in the Early Years’, a programme of research and practice development. Moving beyond a focus on individual programmes, the team will explore the common elements of effective, inclusive and accessible support for families with diverse needs.

DATE: Tuesday 9 March 2027

TIME: 10am-11:30am

PRICE: £30 per ticket, or Buy 5 get one free for £150 (6 tickets)

Online via MS Teams

TARGETED AT: Practitioners, managers, commissioners, policymakers, researchers, and others with an interest in improving outcomes for young children and their families.

Speakers: Prof Michelle Lefevre, Professor of Social Work, Dr Jeri L. Damman, Associate Professor ofSocial Work and Social Care and Dr Ali Lacey, Research Fellow in Education

The first five years of a child's life are critical for development, wellbeing and long-term outcomes. Yet families' experiences of parenting support and early years services vary considerably, particularly where parents are facing multiple and interacting challenges such as poverty, poor mental health, domestic abuse, social isolation, or the effects of trauma.

The webinar will draw on emerging findings from ‘Flourish: Family Help in the Early Years’, a programme of research and practice development, funded by the NIHR through the ARC Kent, Surrey and Sussex. Moving beyond a focus on individual programmes, the team will explore the common elements of effective, inclusive and accessible support for families with diverse needs. The webinar will consider the underlying features of support and intervention that help parents engage with services, sustain participation, and achieve positive outcomes for themselves and their young children.

The webinar will consider how different approaches to family support are intended to work, including parenting programmes, relationship-based practice, trauma-informed approaches, strengths-based support, and community-based provision. The team will discuss the importance of context, relationships, trust, and responsiveness to family circumstances, and explore what parents themselves identify as helpful when seeking support.

Participants will gain insights into current evidence on supporting families during the early years, alongside practical considerations for service design, commissioning and delivery. The session will highlight opportunities to create more inclusive systems of support that recognise the complexity of family lives and promote equitable access to help during a child's crucial first five years.

We will email you the access link to this workshop, and instructions on how to join, few days before the workshop scheduled date. All attendees will receive a certificate of completion at the end of the workshop.

If you are booking for multiple attendees, or on behalf of someone else, please email us at socialchangehub@sussex.ac.uk to let us know the names of the attendees.

For enquiries, please contact us at socialchangehub@sussex.ac.uk.

By purchasing the ticket, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions and cancellation policy. Please read out terms and conditions and cancellation policy on Sussex Social Change Hub website.