Through Home-Start Cymru’s Peer Mental Health Support Project, dedicated staff/volunteers provide parents living with low to medium mental health challenges in the Gwynt Y Môr area receive the support they need through offering befriending services, home visiting and group sessions to tackle feelings of isolation and anxiety and build resilience.

Gwynt Y Môr’s support provided funding for the post of a Family Co-Ordinator working 30 hours a week. The Co-Ordinator received and processed referrals and guided the peer support volunteers.

Across the length of our project, we have seen great improvements in parents’ mental health and wellbeing and children's learning and behaviour as a result. By facilitating space for peer support, families have been able to form strong social connections and share experiences, guidance and advice with one another, contributing to a generally more cohesive community and resilient families. By intervening early where families are displaying signs of struggling with their mental health and child attachments, our support has halted need for higher level statutory support by addressing these issues before deterioration and providing the tools for parents to build confidence and find sustainable solutions alongside their family, also working to prevent adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).

Throughout the project we have learnt ways to be adaptable and flexible to the needs and preferences of families in response to challenges faced, such as restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, ultimately enhancing the level of person-led support we were able to provide to families.