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A local charity focused on supporting families undergoing challenges to "live safe, happy and healthy lives" is opening a hub in the west of the island to be able to help even more people.
Brighter Futures – which is Bailiwick Express and Connect's charity partner for this year – is hoping that the new base at Communicare will help them reach as many as 30 families.
Manager Lauren Maggs gave an insight into the exciting plan…
We offer our services to everybody on the island, but have found that the number of people accessing our services from the west is quite low – around just 9% of our Brighter Futures families. We believe by bringing our services closer to their homes, this percentage may increase.
We’ve got two external hubs: one on the east of the island, at Georgetown Methodist Church, and another at St Helier Town Hall.
It can be quite a challenge to get to St Helier if you haven’t got transport, if you have a child with you, it can be a challenge even taking the bus. If you drive, then you have to consider things like petrol use and, with the cost-of-living still being an issue for many, you’ve got to watch the costs.
Pictured: Manager Lauren Maggs.
So, we’ve been wanting to get into Communicare for a number of years now and when the opportunity arose, we were like, ‘Yes, this is perfect!’ Since then, the interest we’ve had from schools and the community has been fantastic.
We’re expecting approximately 30 families, but obviously they’ll still have the option to come to the Bridge as well, and do all the other groups there.
One of the things at the new Communicare facility we’re really excited about is our new ‘Growing Together’ group, which is an interactive learning group focused around three key areas: personal/social and emotional development, language and social communication skills, and physical development.
It’s a fun, interactive environment for parents/carers and their children featuring various activities such as water, sand, messy play and music.
Like all of our groups, Growing Together is free of charge, so any family referred to Brighter Futures can attend, if appropriate.
The project has been kindly supported by The Jersey Community Foundation with funds from dormant bank accounts.
Pictured: Painting volunteers from Appleby joined the effort.
We've also had corporates who have come and helped us pull all of this together and start our hub off, whether that be through contributing office equipment, computer screens or other electrical goods to start our hub off. Special thanks go to Kleinwort Hambros and Stonehage Fleming for their donations.
Others have contributed their time. Appleby, for example, came and spent a day with us to paint the centre. That was fantastic and really appreciated.
Please help us spread the word! This is a whole new offer, so many people won’t know yet.
To help spread awareness, we’re going to be putting up signage with a QR code so people can self-refer, they won’t necessarily need to be referred by a professional.
From there, a Coordinator will get in touch and discuss what programmes and courses are available for the family to choose from, as it is always their personal choice.
Brighter Futures estimates that it costs £6,600 to work with one family for the whole year.
But if help is not in place early, and a child ends up in care, it can cost around £100,000 for just one child. You can make a donation to support the charity by clicking here.
This article first appeared in the October edition of Connect magazine which you can read in full below.
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