How Parent Gym has helped 4000 families flourish

The Parent Gym ethos is simple. Support parents to develop the skills and confidence to help their families flourish.

Since it was set up in 2010, Parent Gym has helped more than 4000 parents. This number includes those from the 10 schools and Children’s centres across Greenwich that Parent Gym has worked with, many of whom have run multiple programmes with the organisation.

Developed by psychologists and delivered by trained volunteer parents, it’s proven to make a lasting impact on parents’ confidence and their relationships with their children (independent studies carried out by both the University of Canterbury and University of East London.).

Geethika Jayatilaka, Director of Parent Gym: “Good parenting has an enormous impact on the life chances of children – on their social confidence, emotional well-being and academic achievement. Parent Gym provides lots of useful ideas to help family life run more smoothly and children flourish.”

The programme follows a 6 week structure that deals with the key challenges of parenting and is full of practical advice and strategies.

For example, 92% of parents who attended a recent programme at Brookhill Children’s Centre, Woolwich, said that would use what they had learnt and would definitely recommend it to other parents.

The centre itself described their partnership with Parent Gym as ‘highly positive’ , saying that the programmes were ‘providing services that are helping parents deal with their everyday living situations’ and that ‘they offered practical tips for our parents to cope with family life’.

Ade a father of two, from Greenwich, said:
“I learnt so much from the programme, about how to talk to my children, how to help them to know right from wrong. How to solve the problems which can make life difficult for a family. This is a programme that every parent should attend because it will make such a difference to their lives but it is also helping to shape the future of society at large. Helping individual children have a solid start will result in a better life for all of us in the future.”

The programme is totally free for schools and parents, with every session being delivered by a passionate and highly trained volunteer coach. Parent Gym continue to expand and work with more and more schools across Greenwich.

In order to meet this growing demand, they are looking for more parents, who are confident and passionate, to join the team.

Could you be part of the next generation of Parent Gym coaches, helping to make a real difference to the lives of local families?

Details: Parent Gym are running “try outs” on the 9th or 13th of May, 10am – 1pm. These are a chance to find out more about Parent Gym, how they work and to have a go at delivering a short section of material. There is then a 3 day Academy (June 20th-22nd) where you delve into the programme and training model in more detail.

Check out the Parent Gym website or email the Parent Gym team here! for more info.