Sure Start and City and Hackney Mind are working together to provide this service to support and work alongside parents and carers to improve the health, education and social opportunities for children under the age of 4.

Sure Start also provides the following services:

• Family Support
• Health Visitors
• Speech & Language specialist
• Counselling with crèche facilities & children's activities

For more information contact Sure Start on 020 7275 6021

What is counselling?

Counselling gives you the opportunity to talk with someone who is experienced and qualified about the challenges of being a parent.

It gives you the time and space to explore any concerns or issues you may have about your life. It can also help you to understand yourself, your thoughts, and your feelings better.

Counselling offers a supportive and confidential environment in which it is possible to feel safe enough to look more closely at things that may be difficult to talk about in other circumstances.

Who is this service for?

If you are a parent or a guardian of a child under 4 years old, and live within the Queensbridge and Dalston Sure Start area, you can make use of the counselling service.

Having a family may bring up issues or concerns that you would like to discuss with some one. These could include:

• Family relationship
• Loneliness and isolation
• Your own childhood experiences
• Separation and loss
• Being a parent, grandparent or carer
• Issues around physical and verbal abuse
• Emotional difficulties
• Depression and anxieties

What can you expect?

You will be offered an initial appointment to discuss the issues that are of concern to you. This will last for about 50 minutes.

All counselling sessions are private and confidential.

If you agree that counselling is the right option for you, you will be offered weekly appointments for 6 to 15 wks.

At Mapledene Early Years Centre, counselling is available with crèche provision during the following hours:

Monday 1pm to 3pm
Tuesday 1pm to 3pm
Friday 1pm to 3pm

Outside of these times counselling is available at City and Hackney Mind.

For more information phone 020 8985 4239.