Peep Parent to Peep Practitioner to Peep Trainer: Dumfries and Galloway

The challenges and isolation of becoming a parent…

Like many parents, Kirsty found being a new parent to be a challenging and isolating experience.

‘Even though I was a social worker’, she described, ‘when I had my two girls, I felt like I was completely de-skilled by them. I was exhausted, I was lonely, and these two children were just running rings around me.’  

When, after the birth of her third child, a health visitor noticed Kirsty’s low mood, she told Kirsty about a Peep group happening at her local community centre. Kirsty remembers the first time she tried the group:

‘As soon as I walked into Sharyn’s Peep group, I knew it was the right place for me’ she said. ‘She was so welcoming, the room was laid out so nicely’.

… and finding a tribe of other new parents

The group quickly became the highlight of the week for Kirsty and her daughter, who began to recognise where they were going on the way.

Crucially, attending the group enabled Kirsty to meet a group of parents in a similar stage to her, and helped her feel less isolated in the challenges of parenting a young child. ‘It helped me find a new tribe’ she said, and the group began to meet up regularly outside of sessions, even beginning to celebrate their children’s birthdays together. 7 years later they remain in touch, despite Kirsty having moved away.

Developing skills and confidence as a parent and child

Not only did Kirsty and the other families come away from the group with a new community, but with new skills too. She described how the Peep group helped build her child’s confidence, and her own confidence as a parent. She could see the impact this was having on her relationship with her daughter, and was able to share what she learnt at the groups with her partner and her parents.

The group also offered parents the opportunity to create a portfolio of what they were learning and doing at home with their child, to gain an accredited qualification unit through the ‘Peep Progression Pathway’. Kirsty completed not just one but four qualification units.

Reflecting on the impact of Peep with her daughter, now aged 7, Kirsty attributes her school readiness, learning and development down to the positive effect of Peep: ‘I just feel like everything came a lot easier – counting, writing, forming letters, settling in at school – she was ready to learn.’

Career opportunities

At the time, Kirsty’s local council were offering an opportunity for parents who had gained these qualification units to be trained in delivering the Peep Learning Together Programme themselves. After undertaking this training, and successfully being interviewed for a role as a Peep group leader, Kirsty began leading Peep groups for other parents and carers, alongside two other parents from her Peep group who had also undertaken the training.

‘It did change our lives’ she reflected. ‘I sound really cheesy when I say that … but for the three of us it completely changed the direction of our careers and also the way we parented as well.’

Now an experienced Peep group leader, Kirsty trained to become a Peeple Trainer, training other professionals in how to deliver the Peep Learning Together Programme and Peep Antenatal Programme to families. Alongside another trainer, she has trained around 60 professionals within Early Years, Education, Social Work and the NHS since then.

The benefits of early intervention

She observed that with the cost-of-living crisis pushing more carers to return to work soon after parental leave ends, provision of the Antenatal programme is particularly important in enabling families to have the opportunities that Kirsty’s family did.

‘I love Antenatal Peep…’ she said, ‘expectant parents come and feel so relaxed.’ Speaking of both her love of Peep programmes, and her experiences as a social worker, she said: ‘if you want an early intervention tool, use Peep. It can be so flexible in whatever you’re hoping to achieve with your families.’ In Dumfries and Galloway, Kirsty has seen Peep positively impact a diverse range of families, including those who are particularly vulnerable.

But the most resounding impact of Peep for Kirsty is the impact that she continues to see in her daughter, who will still come and sit on her knee and ask ‘can we do some Peep songs?’

Thanks to Kirsty, Dumfries & Galloway

> Find out more about Peep Progression Pathway accreditation for parents and carers