Since 1999 Parenting NI has led on and organised National Parenting Week in Northern Ireland in partnership with other local and regional groups that support parents and children. Over the years thousands of families and family organisations have been involved. It has helped highlight the importance of the role of parents and draws attention to their needs and concerns. Many of our children and young people are disadvantaged by many factors, which adversely impact on their outcomes, supporting parents in their role is essential in improving the outcomes of our children. Promoting the parent child relationship is an important way to improve outcomes. The benefits of supporting the parent child relationship are: Health There is currently major concern about the physical health of children. Much of this concern focuses around low levels of physical exercise. Children’s play, especially outdoor, offers many opportunities for physical activity. So encouraging and supporting a positive parent child relationship can help support children’s physical health. Enjoying, learning and achieving One method to build a parent child relationship can be through play. It is widely accepted that in early childhood most of children’s learning is acquired through play. When playing, children define their own goals and interests, decide what is success and failure and pursue these goals in their own way. Contributing positively to community and society Embracing and supporting the parent child relationship allows children to grow to make an important contribution to community life. It is a crucial medium for social interaction and for forming, maintaining and negotiating relationships. Children learn from the way others and the environment react, the effects of their actions and value others place on them. Children contribute to the community and to society when they are visible, when the environment within which they live maximises all opportunities. Children's most important early relationships are with their parents. Positive parent-child relationships are important for all areas of children’s development. Spending quality time and showing warmth, care and respect, can strengthen your relationship with your child. Relationships shape how children see the world because relationships allow children to express themselves. For example, when they cry, or laugh or ask a question they will get a response, those responses give them important information and tells them a lot about how to think, understand, communicate, behave, show emotions and develop social skills. Parents’ Week is an opportunity to celebrate the valuable work that organisations do with parents and families in their community. Parenting NI launched Parenting Week with a seminar for professionals led by Dr Karen Treisman in Girdwood Community Hub, Belfast and corporate event hosted by Josh Levs followed by a weeklong series of activities. We are delighted with the success of Parenting Week 2018 which offered a wide programme of events and activities for parents, families and professionals throughout Northern Ireland. Parenting NI wishes to thank all those who participated and especially the Northern Childcare Partnership who supported the activities in the Northern Trust areas. Parenting NI Staff Launching Parenting Week Parenting NI’s Ambassador Pip Jaffa OBE launched Parenting Week at the Understanding the Impact of Relational Trauma led by Dr Karen Treisman seminar for professionals in Girdwood Community Hub. Key note speaker Dr Karen Treisman, a Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist who has worked in the National Health System and children’s services for several years. Karen has extensive experience in the areas of trauma, parenting, adversity (ACE’s) and attachment, and works clinically using a range of therapeutic approaches with families, systems, and children in or on the edge of care, unaccompanied asylum- seeking young people, and adopted children. Karen also specialises in supporting organisations and systems to move towards being, and to sustain trauma-informed and trauma-responsive practice. This work focuses on creating a cultural and paradigm shift across whole systems. This unique event explored: Why is the parent / child relationship so important? What is meant by relational & developmental trauma? Provide rational & framework for relationship based trauma-informed practice Understand the impact of domestic violence and physical abuse 246 professionals registered and attended the event. Evaluation Findings Each professional received an evaluation form, which was completed by 154 attendees. The evaluations showed: Average Good Booking Process for the Event Venue 3% 3% Good Very Good 3% 19% Very Good 14% Excellent Excellent 83% 75% Venue The Information Presented Average Good 3% 3% was Relevant & Useful Very Good Good 19% 1% Very Good 8% Excellent 75% Excellent 91% The Event was Well Paced within The Facilitator was the Allotted Time Knowledgeable on the Topic Could be Good Improved 2% Very Good Very Good 1% 11% 1% Excellent Excellent 86% 99% Overall Level of Satisfaction Very Good 5% Excellent 95% “Excellent event from start to finish. So thankful to Parenting NI for bringing Karen to Belfast for us to listen to her.” Comments from professionals who attended the event include: Really enjoyed the morning. Thank you Very enjoyable day, however would have enjoyed having more time to look deeper into the topic Great to hear someone so knowledgeable talk about trauma in an easy to access way Has given me a lot to think about. I will encourage other staff to attend future training Amazing, informative session Very good course, would highly recommend Excellent speaker with great knowledge. Would definitely attend another seminar Excellent training, information was very relevant and helpful. Wish it had been a longer day. Encourage teachers to attend, very interesting Very informative and engaging training session – positive refresher which will be useful in my workplace Great refresher as a professional and parent Fantastic facilitator and morning Key messages were well explained and I will take these forward into my practice. Very thought provoking Excellent seminar Excellent and inspirational training Thoroughly enjoyable and informative. Left me wanting more Karen extremely knowledgeable and likeable. Kept my attention throughout Karen was excellent and very worth the money for the ticket Thank you for the information sheets from Parenting NI – handouts excellent Excellent seminar which should be taken up by everyone across the Board, professional and parents alike, many useful examples of real life practice Informative, interesting. Very accessible information in the way it was presented. Love the parenting patchwork idea and thinking of the womb as the first classroom Amazing speaker – really enjoyed Well organised, interesting mix of participants A great event, very accessible language, brought to life by real life stories. Thank you Fantastic event of such an important and interesting topic. Karen is a fantastic speaker, so knowledgeable. Feel privileged to have had the opportunity to attend Loved this session, so much to think about. Going to bring back loads of positive ideas to work This was excellent training. I have been on many training courses on trauma but this has been the most helpful. I particularly liked the message of HOPE and how we can be part of a child’s journey of renewed hope. It’s a message I will bring to the foster carers I work with – its something that needs reinforced Thoroughly enjoyed this training – never once lost interest which is unusual for me in training Karen was phenomenal, one of the best speakers I have heard. Her metaphors really brought the subject to life. Thank you Excellent event, clear challenge to stop and think about approaches, styles of engagement with children and young people Excellent facilitation of subject matter, very visual slides. Could listen to Karen all day. Brilliant energy and passion A very valuable morning. Karen is so enthusiastic and her passion is amazing. Lots of tips to take away when working with families in our Sure Start setting Excellent seminar which was informative, interesting and provided considerable food for thought. Thank you Working as an early intervention Midwife this was all extremely useful. I enjoyed it immensely. What an inspirational speaker. Has had a big impact. Thank you Karen was a great and inspirational speaker and I believe will have given additional clarity to other professionals on the huge, importance of parents being supported to in turn support their children Absolutely amazing! Best speaker I have heard on such a complex topic! Very inspiring! Thank you Parenting NI hosted an exciting ‘Make Parenting Work’ networking seminar with leading global expert, Josh Levs with special support from Bank of Ireland and Citi bank. Josh Levs presented a ‘Make Parenting Work’ networking seminar for professional working parents to explore: How businesses can engage men on issues of gender equality and diversity How equal caregiving options attract and retain the best employees How to support both female and male employees who seek work-life balance Proven methods to achieve all this while lifting profits About Key Note Speaker Josh Levs Josh Levs is an entrepreneur, former CNN and NPR journalist, and the leading global expert on issues facing modern fathers in the workplace. From the United Nations to Congress, Oxford and Google, Josh