Mental health charity to bring SMILES at the Bridge

Tuesday 22 August 2017

Local mental health charity Mind Jersey is taking over an NSPCC programme aimed at children who live with a parent or carer who has a mental illness and will be delivering it at The Bridge Child and Family centre starting from this Autumn.

Named Family SMILES, Simplifying Mental Illness and Life Enhancing Skills, the programme was launched in Summer 2014 and has already helped over 70 families.

The programme was set up to help support children who live with a parent or a carer who has a mental illness. With one in four people experiencing a mental problem at any time, many children will grow up with parents who are affected. The NSPCC wanted to help parents explain to their children what is happening and to help the child make sense of their parent's support so that neither feels isolated or unsupported. Family SMILES is a service for children aged seven to 15, which comprises eight groupwork sessions for children, and six one-to-one parent work sessions. Children learn about mental illness and develop life skills that will improve their ability to cope, whilst  parents focus on developing an understanding of their child's experience of living in a family where there is mental illness.

Having developed, and successfully delivered the programme for the past three years, the NSPCC is now passing it on to Mind Jersey.  Stephanie Harding, of the NSPCC said it was sad to say goodbye to the service, but says it had always been the plan: "It was always our intention to move things on. We have found the perfect place for the programme, it couldn't have moved to a better place."

Since its launch, 70 families have benefited from the programme which has  helped raise the self-esteem of children of parents with mental health issues. Louise, a mother of two, describes it as a brilliant service. "I recommend it to anyone with mental health issues. It brought my family closer together by helping me explain to my children what mental health is. Parents can feel scared to say what they are going through or they don't know how much to say and SMILES assist with that."

Starting from this Autumn, SMILES will be delivered from the Bridge Child and Family centre with only a few alterations.  

Mind Jersey Family SMILES will take place at the Bridge Child and Family centre and referrals can be made directly to Mind Jersey.