I was first introduced to the Family Nurse Partnership when I was 19 years old, 13 weeks pregnant, alone, scared and sleeping rough. I was sleeping rough to avoid my family who had no idea I was expecting until I was 34 weeks.
Play and learning can be perceived as opposites, particularly for older children: The school day is often divided into lessons, where the learning takes place, and ‘play time’, which is presented as something different to – break from – the learning. But a true understanding of children’s development shows us that play IS learning.
We know that the early years are a critical opportunity for building healthy, resilient children, with positive early experiences shaping outcomes throughout the life-course and contributing to a healthy, thriving society.
Since the original Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study conducted in the United States in 1998 1, extensive research has continued to reveal how ACEs affect health later in life as well as the well-being of those experiencing them
It was wonderful to welcome David Olds back to London last month and to talk about ADAPT. He was on a whistle-stop tour to Europe, also visiting our colleagues delivering FNP in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Norway and Bulgaria.
The New Mum Star is a tool created in collaboration with Triangle Consulting as part of the ADAPT project. The tool aims to facilitate structured and collaborative decision-making between clients and nurses about flexing the FNP programme content, adjusting visit intensity and graduating clients early. Sue Mercer, Family Nurse Supervisor from West Sussex, blogs about her experience of taking the tool from paper to practice
I grew up in a very talky family. My mum was a speech therapist, my dad was a wonderful storyteller. Meal times were for chat, we had bedtime stories, on car journeys we played I-spy and The Lorry in Front. I was actually slow to talk myself - apparently I mostly sat in the garden eating grass. But I was a real talker by the time I started school.
Earlier in the month, FNP founder Professor David Olds took part in a webinar with FNP graduate, now Health Visitor, Jade Batten and FNP National Unit Director Ailsa Swarbrick. Professor Olds answered questions from the FNP community on whole of range of topics, including hearing the client voice, the ADAPT project, and engaging fathers
It’s a Wednesday morning at the end of February. I’m sitting at a table with a handful of FNP nurses, a Mr Potato Head toy and a stop watch. There’s a look of intense concentration on our faces as I time our best efforts to assemble our Mr Potato Head to match a picture in front of us as fast as we can.
A few months after my 18th birthday, I had just moved into my first home and started a new job; team leader in a local pub after a short period of unemployment and homelessness. I was enjoying being back on my feet and doing all the things 18 year olds do, when I unexpectedly found myself pregnant.
