Helping Children SHINE to School and Beyond – Working with Children of All Ages From Toddlers to Teens.
Home Start
Reducing Parental Anxiety Through a Six-Week Anxiety, Worries, and Fears Programme.
Overview
Sunny Kids Shine partnered with Home-Start to deliver a six-week online course designed to support parents of children aged 0–5 who were experiencing heightened anxiety, worries, overwhelm, and emotional stress.
The programme, Managing Anxiety and Working Through Worries and Fears, was delivered through weekly one-hour Zoom sessions to small groups of 5–10 parents. New groups were offered every half-term over a two-year period, enabling ongoing support for families in the community.
Alongside parent sessions, additional staff training and monthly drop-in support meetings were provided for Home-Start staff and volunteers to strengthen confidence and understanding around anxiety, emotional wellbeing, and family support.
The programme aimed to improve parental wellbeing, reduce BIG feelings of overwhelm and isolation, and equip families with practical tools for emotional regulation that could positively impact both parent and child wellbeing.
Why Support Was Needed
Home-Start is a nationwide charity supporting families with children under five through practical, emotional, and community-based support.
Following the impact of lockdown and increased social isolation, the charity identified a significant rise in parents experiencing:
- Anxiety.
- Overwhelm.
- Low-confidence.
- Social withdrawal.
- Emotional exhaustion.
- Difficulties managing worries and fears.
Many families were also navigating additional pressures, including:
- Parental mental health challenges.
- Financial stress.
- Disability.
- Loneliness and isolation.
- Limited support networks.
The organisation recognised the need for targeted wellbeing support that would:
- Help parents better understand anxiety.
- Provide practical coping strategies.
- Strengthen emotional resilience.
- Increase staff confidence in supporting families experiencing emotional distress.
The course was designed to create a safe, supportive, and non-judgmental space where parents could develop tools to improve both their own well-being and their ability to support their children emotionally.
The six-week course focused on helping parents understand anxiety, identify emotional triggers, and develop practical strategies to manage worries and fears more effectively.
Sessions explored:
- Understanding anxiety and overwhelm.
- Recognising physical and emotional responses to stress.
- Emotional regulation strategies.
- Self-care and nervous system regulation.
- Confidence-building.
- Reducing avoidance and fear-based behaviours.
- Creating healthier emotional patterns within family life.
Parents were supported to reflect on their experiences while learning practical techniques they could implement in everyday life.
The small-group format helped reduce feelings of isolation and enabled parents to build supportive peer connections, normalising many of the emotional challenges they were experiencing.
The course encouraged parents to recognise the importance of their own emotional wellbeing, helping them understand that supporting their own emotional wellbeing positively impacts their children’s emotional development and family relationships.
Supporting Staff and Volunteers
Alongside direct parent support, Sunny Kids Shine provided:
- Staff training.
- Reflective guidance.
- Monthly drop-in sessions for staff and volunteers.
This enabled Home-Start teams to:
- Gain a deeper understanding of anxiety and emotional well-being.
- Feel more confident supporting overwhelmed families.
- Recognise signs of emotional distress.
- Respond with greater empathy, validation, and practical support.
The ongoing guidance sessions also created opportunities for staff and volunteers to:
- Ask questions.
- Reflect on experiences.
- Strengthen consistency in approaches across the organisation.
This helped embed a more emotionally informed and trauma-aware culture within family support services.
Measuring Outcomes
To measure the programme’s impact, all attendees completed a well-being questionnaire before and after the course.
The questionnaire explored:
- Levels of anxiety.
- Worries and fears.
- Confidence.
- Emotional well-being.
- Social engagement.
- Enjoyment of daily life.
- Overall happiness and contentment.
Participants rated each area on a scale from 1–5, with:
- 1 indicating “none of the time.”
- and 5 indicating “all of the time.”
Following completion of the course, every participant reported improvements in their wellbeing scores, with increases ranging from 9 to 17 points.
Key Areas of Improvement Included:
- Reduced anxiety, worries, and fears.
- Increased ability to manage overwhelming emotions.
- Improved confidence and self-awareness.
- Greater feelings of calmness and emotional control.
- Increased motivation to socialise and engage in activities.
- Improved happiness, contentment, and overall well-being.
Our Impact
The programme created meaningful and lasting positive change for both families and professionals, supporting them.
Furthermore, families described the programme as empowering, transformative, and life-changing, highlighting the practical impact the tools and strategies had on everyday family life.
“Last night he slept in his bed until seven this morning! I wouldn’t have been able to do this without the tools you gave us. Thank you!”
“I took my son out on his bike on my own for the first time. I could never have done that before this course!”
“I feel calm and can say how I feel. The little things don’t bother me anymore. I’m far less angry now. I think behind my anger and frustration was actually anxiety and overwhelm. I would 1000% recommend this to others. This has been life-changing.”
“I feel so much happier and have realised that self-care is an everyday thing for your mind, body and everything. It makes a huge difference!”
This programme demonstrated the importance of early preventative wellbeing support for parents with young children, particularly during periods of heightened stress, isolation, and uncertainty.
By combining:
- Psychoeducation.
- Emotional regulation strategies.
- Peer support.
- Reflective practice.
- Trauma-informed and neurodiversity-affirming approaches.
The programme empowered parents to improve their emotional well-being while strengthening their capacity to nurture and support their children.
The partnership with Home-Start also helped build long-term organisational capacity, ensuring that staff and volunteers felt more confident and equipped to support families experiencing anxiety and overwhelm within their communities.