Five years in Stoke-on-Trent
Almost 100 professionals gathered to hear from experts and network with colleagues from across Stoke-on-Trent’s health, education, voluntary, early years and family support sectors. As Thrive at Five marks five years in the city, the annual conference continues to serve as a central platform for strengthening relationships across the early years sector.
This year’s theme focused on one of the most powerful influences on lifelong wellbeing: early parent-infant relationships as we explored ‘Thriving Relationships and Interactions from the Start.’
Parent-Infant relationships
The day started with a discussion around parent-infant relationships, where we are now and where we’d like to be in 12 months’ time. The panellists Stephen Gunther, Director of Public Health at Stoke on Trent City Council, Claire Bailey from Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust and Dr Ben Yeo from The Parent-Infant Foundation and our host Thrive at Five Programme Director, Stoke-on-Trent Karla Capstick generated lots of questions and reflections from the audience. Concluding the session, Stephen Gunther highlighted that there are islands of good practice across the city and that events and opportunities such as Thrive at Five’s conference help to share and promote that knowledge more widely.
Using video to capture micro-moments and listening to the child's voice
The keynote speaker of the day was Hilary Kennedy from AVIGuk. As Thrive at Five leads on the implementation of Video Interaction Guidance (VIG) within Family Hubs across Stoke-on-Trent, in partnership with Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust and 1001 Critical Days Foundation , Hilary’s presentation provided valuable insight into this area of work. She spoke about how “micro-moments” of interaction can strengthen parent-infant relationships, improve bonding and support maternal mental health.
The session was followed by an opportunity for delegates to explore the practicalities of implementing VIG. Lead by Thrive at Five’s 0-2 Health Lead, Nina Gilbert , the interactive sessions got the delegates thinking and talking about the language used when communicating VIG to parents. It was an opportunity to share learning, discuss challenges and learn how barriers can be overcome through collaboration.
The final speaker of the day was Dr Ben Yeo who spoke about the voice of babies and raised awareness of a baby blind-spot in policy, practice and services for early childhood mental health.
Delegates also had the chance to network with others and continue to strengthen existing partnerships across the sector.
Karla Capstick, Thrive at Five Programme Director, Stoke-on-Trent, said: “Seeing almost 100 professionals take this deep dive into early parent-infant relationships has been amazing. There’s been a real buzz in the room. Conferences such as ours help to create the cross-disciplinary dialogue and collaboration needed to share research, recognise common goals and learn from one another.”
We’ve received lots of positive feedback from delegates since the event with comments such as “Excellent day! Reinvigorates my love for the job” and “great event well organised. Great to network and see and hear about best practice. It puts fire in your belly in a climate of reduced funding of why we do our jobs supporting babies, children and families.”
A huge thank you to 1001 Critical Days Foundation and other funders for providing catalytic funding towards the VIG pilot in Abbey Hulton and Bentilee, and to all of the speakers, partners and delegates who contributed to such a useful and informative event.
Scroll through some of the event photos:
