Increasing our focus on family wellbeing

Our Magic Mums programme has always had a pivotal role to play in the wellbeing of the family unit. To build on this, we’ve expanded the opportunities for our parents and carers to explore mindfulness and how it can contribute to overall wellbeing, and how this in turn supports the children’s wellbeing.

This term in our Stay & Play sessions, which is our Tuesday drop-in sessions for parents and carers of pre-school children, The Royal College of Music has played classical musical throughout each session, introducing children to new instruments and musical styles while helping to promote calm and wellbeing for all attendees.

Our parents and carers have also taken over a raised flower bed in the community garden behind RPT and are now growing a range of vegetables, including leeks, garlic, onions, carrots, parsley and tomatoes. This is the first time for some of our parents to experiment with gardening, leaving many of them surprised at just what a great tool it can be to support wellbeing.

Our weekly jewellery making sessions have been another wonderful opportunity for our parents and carers to build skills and confidence while benefiting from having a focused task to promote mindfulness, support concentration and promote overall wellbeing and calm. Participants have had the added benefit of producing something tangible that they can take home as a reminder of their new skills.

Our mums have also experimented with SIMRAN, which uses chanting as a way of overcoming negative thought patterns.

We’ve been very lucky to have some of our session attended by Children and Adult Mental Health Services (CAMHS), who are supporting our families by providing preventative mental health support to children and parents. Next term our sessions will be welcoming the MET Police Services, who will be supporting our mums to tackle domestic violence, advising them on their rights, reporting procedures and what other support is available.

Our parents and carers have been so open to trying new techniques and learning new skills to support their wellbeing, and the change in their outlook has been noticeable in only one term.