The Weald Family Hub
We’re hiring Two months after we launched the Weald Family Hub we are now ready to recruit for our first two posts.
What is the Weald Family Hub?
The Hub Coordinator will be a two day per week post and will focus on establishing the Hub as a key local network of practical hope for young people and families and on setting up parenting groups across the Wealden villages. This is a two day per week post and will be employed by St Mary’s church on behalf of the Hub. To find out more about the Hub Coordinator post, including the job description and person specification and the application form, please click here.
The Parent Support Coordinator will focus on recruiting and training volunteers to run Fegans’ Parent Support Scheme. This is a one day per week job and will be employed by Fegans. Both posts will be based at St Mary’s and will operate across the whole of the Weald. To apply for the Parent Support Coordinator post, click here to go to the Fegans website where their application pack is available. These posts could be done by two people, or by the same person, and we welcome applications from anyone interested in doing all three days as a single post. Please note that there are two separate application forms and selection processes for the two posts. Anyone applying for both posts will need to complete both forms and attend both interviews. For more information please call 01580 211739.
There is an epidemic of mental ill-health amongst young people today. Research from Public Health England suggests that 1 in 10 young people have a diagnosed mental illness. 1 in 10 self-harm. 75% of those who need professional support will not receive it. Locally, many of us have been personally affected by the issues of mental illness, anxiety and self-harm amongst our own children, and those of friends and school mates. We know that these issues can only be faced and overcome as a community – no individual person or group has the whole answer. The Weald Family Hub is a local community response to this challenge. It brings local churches, schools and individuals together with Fegans, a highly respected charity that specialises in working with teenage mental illness. The Hub will do two things: first to raise money to subsidise local schools to be able to access counselling for children who are in need of expert support; secondly to run a variety of parent support schemes to help parents and families as we bring children up in a complex and rapidly changing world. Our launch event On 27 June we launched the Weald Family Hub with a talk by Ian Soars, the Chief Executive of Fegans and a leading voice in the field of young people, families and mental health. You can listen to his talk here – it covers a very wide range of issues, including why the statistics on mental illness are so dire, information about how the brain changes during adolescence and how we can best love and support teenagers and young people. It’s full of serious knowledge and practical advice and is well worth listening to. You can also listen to Hugh Nelson speaking about the plans for the Weald Family Hub, including its vision and how you can be involved. More information The booklet below explains the plans and how you can be involved. If you would like a paper copy of the booklet – or bulk copies to give out elsewhere, please contact us with your postal address. If you’d like to keep in touch, you can sign up to our mailing list here. It goes out every month with a mixture of updates, resources about young people and mental health and links to other local organisations. This is an entirely local initiative. We have no funding other than that which is given by people who want to make a difference to the lives of children, young people and families. We’ve raised £19,000 already and now need another £6,000 to get the Hub up and running. If you would be interested in giving to this work, or in investing in the Hub, please call 01580 211739 and speak to Hugh Nelson, or by email
