Lisa CooperCo Londonderry
I work as a Programme Coordinator for Gold Surestart which covers Cookstown, Killeenan, Dunamore, Pomeroy, Maghera and Ardboe areas.
I am a qualified Social Worker and have experience working with children and families for 15 years. I have been working in Surestart for almost five years and during this time I have been involved in the facilitation of parenting programmes and approaches, which have been delivered to both parents and staff working with children aged 0-4. Such programmes and approaches include Family Links Nurturing, Family Links Welcome to the World (antenatal programme), Solihull Approach Awareness Training, Incredible Years Toddler and Incredible Years School Readiness. During my experience working with children and families I have become more aware of the need to support children and their families to develop resilience and self awareness in order to manage stress and adversity throughout their lives. We cannot prevent adversity and daily stress; but we can learn to be more resilient by changing how we think about challenges and adversities. Families are increasingly under pressure to meet the demands of modern life and our children need to develop strengths, acquire skills to cope, recover from hardships, and be prepared for future challenges. They need to be resilient in order to succeed in life. The Fresh Little Minds Resilience Programme helps children develop strategies and a tool kit to help them feel better in times of stress - skills and knowledge they might otherwise never have the opportunity to learn about. I feel excited and passionate about sharing this knowledge with children, their carers and parents to help build stronger, more resilient future generations and communities. |