What's on?

A new school term has started and so has our activities at the bounce higher project.

The Family Fun Day on the bank holiday on the 8th of September will have families and children from several different groups all go together to 5 Sisters Zoo, West Calder. We are filling up the minibus and people are also taking their cars to cuddle baby skunks, hold a snake, have fun and get to know each other better.If you are interested please make contact quickly!


The Toddler Group is on from 10AM-11:30AM on Wednesday's in the church hall.
We do not have free spaces at the moment, but please make contact as our waiting list isn't all that long. We would like a volunteer to help out with the toddlers to do some admin work and also help with welcoming new families etc.

The Storytelling Club is on from 4PM- 5PM and we do a minibus run to pick up some of the children who need this. This group is also full, but if you have a child who is interested, please put the name forward for the next session, as this one finishes in September. As our numbers are growing we need volunteers to help run this group, so get in touch for some creative fun with this lively bunch!

The Parenting Workshop we started before the summer holiday will meet to finish the last 4 sessions. It will be possible to join in if you are interested, but a new workshop will be offered from the end of October.

The Messy Play Group is facilitated by Dianne and Catriona and has already started up again. It has free spaces for babies who are 6-24months old and their carers. They play with gloop, pasta and other surprising things and have a snack time together.


We will also gather interest for attending our next 6 session Step Forward Group, which is a peer support group for step families that will work through the From This Step Forward resource from Care For The Family. We running a successful pilot-group last term we would like to offer this one to the wider community, so please help us spread the word!
Another new venture for this autumn is a Bereavement Group for teenagers. Watch this space for further information.

There are also some free spaces for individual work, so if you think this would be helpful for you, give me a call and I can pop through and see you through the week!

Resources

The blog is developing, has anyone noticed?
Well, there might not be that many posts yet, but there are quite a few links to good supports if you look to the left of this text and a little down.
I've been looking around cyberspace for resources for children, young people and their families and for people working with families.
Some of the issues covered are:

• domestic abuse resources for young people
• support re divorce and separation for young people
• ADHD/ADD resources
• Childline and other resources where you can chat to someone or read about issues
• mental health and emotional well being for both adults and young people
• bereavement and loss
  
• marriage care
• debt and budgeting support

and lots more! I've even added a link to a page with lots of other links!

We are going to gather resources so that we can give a type of directory to people looking for different supports, so I'm always on the lookout. So, if you know of some good resources to add, let me know! Also I'd be interested to hear if any of you have tried out any of these resources and what you made of them! You can leave comments by clicking on the little bit underneath the text in the post that says comments.
You can choose to sign in with your own name, write anonymous, or make up a silly name, like The Green Giraffe. Anyway, I know it's not always easy to know what to say, but feel free to give it a shot!
Hope you're all enjoying the summer!

The Leaflet

Here's the Bounce Higher Leaflet!
Well, as it was a bit comlplicated to add it as a pdf file I've just added it as a two picture.
Anyway, it folds in three and I've added the front and back page, so you just get to use your imagination! Either that or print it out and have a folding session! :-)
I'll gradually update this site and add ongoing activities through the summer!

First post on second blog!

The Bounce Higher Family Project is online! The family worker (meaning myself, Andrea, who's writing this very post ), has now finally joined the rest of the blogging St Andrew's lot in communicating on the web, giving opportunities for families and family workers to discuss scenarios, share helpful tips and point us to other helpful resources on the web or in real life!

I am hoping to gradually build this blog to be a resource to encourage us all and improve our bounce! We can all fall over at times, and my hope is that we can support each other to bounce back quicker and higher as we meet and share our stories and resources!

Don’t be shy and comment about topics you would like to discuss and also of resources you’ve found!

A bit of background info if you're wondering what Bounce Higher is all about:

So; Bounce Higher is the family work project of St Andrew’s Parish Church in Bo’ness. The Minister Albert Bogle and his team applied for funding from BBC’s Children in Need to fund a family worker to do outreach work for families in the parish and the wider community of Bo’ness. So far Andrea Woollard is employed as the family worker and undertakes individual support to families and also facilitates a variety of group along with some great volunteers. Please make contact to learn more on what we’ve got on offer and opportunities to volunteer!