HM Prison Winchester

'Time for You and Your Baby' - working with Spurgeons’ Invisible Walls Family Support Service, Hampshire and HM Prison Winchester

project structure:

• Seven sessions with fathers, followed by an eighth family session where children are invited into the prison for a joint playtime with their Dads, who can put their new skills into practice.
• The Spurgeons team also work with the whole family, including introducing them to services within their own communities, especially children’s centres.

staff: Peep-trained Spurgeons practitioners, funded by The Big Lottery. Spurgeons Invisible Walls Family Support Service provide a number of interventions for prisoners and their families.

feedback:
The fathers felt they had increased their understanding of many aspects of child development and how it related to them and their baby, including:

• the importance of positive interactions with very young children and different ways of communicating with them
• the importance of music, songs and rhymes, and sharing books, for their babies
• different ways that babies explore the world, make choices and learn through their senses
• how to make the most of prison-visiting time.

The fathers were asked if they would recommend this course to someone else?

• "Yes, it's a really good course and really helpful to build better bonds. Loved the sock puppet."
• "It’s a good relief to know how important my children are and how I can still have a part in their lives. Although small, it is still a part."
• "Yes - get on the ‘Time for You and Your Baby’ course, you would love it!"