Welcome to Nurturing Hands Charity 0845 271 2800
Our Staff
More about Nurturing Hands
Who we are...
No-one said it was going to be easy, but no-one really listens to this advice until it’s far too late!
We are a group of mums who got together and decided that honesty IS the best policy. Yes, being a parent is the best feeling in the entire world, but none of us ever imagined the amount of guilt we would take on the minute our bundle of joy arrived. What if I fail as a mum? What if I don’t have any maternal instincts? What if I don’t bond with my baby? If my baby isn’t sleeping through the night at the same time as all my friends’ babies, does that mean I’m failing in my duties as a mum? Who do I listen to….my mother, my midwife, my partner, my friends or my doctor? "Aaarrrgghhhh” I hear you saying. Well this is where our company comes in. We aim to provide the reassuring shoulder to cry on, or the affirmative saying that every mum wants to hear “You’re doing a really good job!”
Ultimately the aim of this website and our company is to reassure parents and allow you to realise that you are the experts when it comes to your very precious and very unique bundle of joy, and that your baby is the teacher, telling you what they need from you through their tears, smiles, and even from their lovely deposits from their bottom ends!
Remember BABIES ARE OUR TEACHERS, PARENTS ARE THE EXPERTS AND WE ARE HERE TO PROVIDE SUPPORT.
Amy Lovegrove – Founder of Nurturing Hands
I am a Child Practitioner with eight years post qualifying experience with a background in Psychology and Child and Family Support.
Since 1998 when I started my BTEC National Diploma in Childhood Studies, I knew that I wanted to work with families, particularly mothers and their babies. I have always had an interest in the relationship between a mother and their new born baby, particularly how the attachment process takes place and what factors impact on this relationship. Since graduating from the BSc in Psychology in 2002, I have been building up my level of experience, knowledge and understanding of this relationship. I currently have eight years experience of working with children and families in a variety of settings.
Over the last few years I have been gradually building my qualifications and experience in order to get to the level I am at today, where I feel competent and confident to start Nurturing Hands, with the ultimate aim of being able to offer additional support to families in Cornwall, specifically where there is a need, at the low level- of direct work with the family. Through my work experience I have encountered many families in need, particularly in Cornwall where deprivation is the highest in the country.
One of my major frustrations was that depending on who I worked for, this would impact on what support I could offer to a family. I would meet with a family and assess what their needs were; from here I would only be able to offer support that covered the employers remit. This is another reason for setting up Nurturing Hands. We want to be able to offer wrap around support, which ensures the family get all the help they need. From experience, I found that a mother requesting help with a child who wouldn’t eat, after meeting with the family, would more often than not turn out to have other underlying issues relating to the family dynamic. Further support would be required to work with the entire family in order to help with managing the child’s refusal to eat.
I believe that families do not get anywhere near the level of support that was offered to previous generations. Doctor’s have had to cut the amount of time they spend with each patient in half, Health Visitor’s and School Nurses have had so many cut backs that the majority of their work is now directed towards families where there are child protection plans and looked after children. This leaves a significant shortfall in the provision of preventative health support to families.
After 8 years working for different organisations, I realised there was a massive gap in the market, where more support was desperately needed for families. Once a baby is 10 days old the midwife no longer has a duty to care and is transferred to a Health visitor who has this duty to care until the child’s 5th birthday.
Sarah Franks – Office Manager/Co-Director
I am a full time mum going back to work after 10 years. My work background is mainly office based. I have completed a course studying Book Keeping and Payroll.
My aim is to work in the community sector, utilising my experience of childcare, working with families in need of additional support. I am currently a Young Carer Volunteer, which commenced in January 2010. Research has shown Cornwall is lacking in several areas with regards to family and welfare support, and it would be great to develop a business where we could make a difference.
Kylie Jago – Child Practitioner
From a young age I knew I wanted a career working with Children and their families so when I started college I embarked on the BTEC National Diploma in Childhood Studies course, my particular interests being caring for babies, children and their families and behaviour management.
I currently have 11 years experience of working with babies, children and their families in a variety of settings and in this time have gained invaluable knowledge along the way.
In this time I have also continued with my personal development and have gained my NVQ Level 4 in Children’s care, learning and development and undertaken extensive training in British Sign Language and 1st Aid both of which were successfully achieved following rigorous assessment.
I am now 30 years old and have a 3 year old daughter of my own so am fully aware of how demanding and isolating parenting can be.
I have come across many families who have felt un-supported and lacked confidence in their capabilities in regards to coping with the demands of parenting as many of the services that should offer this support have had to make cutbacks and unfortunately it seems to be in this area. This is why I feel Nurturing Hands is perfect for families to access.
Part of my role here at Nurturing Hands is to offer support and guidance to parents in a non-threatening environment so they feel confident to raise their family to the best of their abilities and always know that help is at hand if they should need it.
Since working for Nurturing Hands I have come across countless people who have found our support invaluable which just confirms to me why the work we do is so important and that our team do it with great passion and enthusiasm for working with families.
Cheryl Fisher – Office Administrator
I have many years experience working, studying and volunteering in the care sector. I started volunteering at Blantyre centre aged seventeen, during this time I also gained by NVQ and eventually gained the position of specialized care assistant. During my time at Blantyre I worked within a team but I needed to also work autonomously in order to meet the individual’s needs. I worked alongside other care teams and psychologists, to record challenging behaviours with the aim to asses and review continuously the needs of the individual. As I worked solely with the lady daily, it was my responsibility to ensure her safety and other individuals at the centre. This helped develop my ability to deal with challenging behaviour, it improved my ability to stay calm and make appropriate decisions regarding the best approach to take.
My time at Spectrum further developed these skills, as I worked with two adult males with autism and the ability to deal with challenging behaviour was crucial. When dealing with obsessive routines, it is necessary to be flexible and think quickly depending upon the situation. I have also been a key worker and hence been involved with creating personal plans alongside the service user and family members. I am also capable of liaising with family members and other care professionals effectively. This requires sensitivity, good listening skills and the ability to suggest solutions to any problems that arise. I have also been responsible for medication, keeping financial records and managing relevant paperwork, such as incident reports.
I have experience of working with children at Penrice school which I really enjoyed and motivated me to work further with children. I not only supported them with their educational needs but I helped with any personal care needs and supported them with any health issues such as epilepsy, diabetes and ceoliac disease.
In the past several months since obtaining my degree I have spent some time volunteering with younger children at Mount Charles School and have taken part in a forestry school, which is aimed at children that do not cope as well with the school setting. We worked on building up their confidence levels, hence improving their communication skills and in some cases behaviour.
To further my knowledge in the care field I started to study Psychology, I enjoyed the subject and was motivated to obtain my degree. I can also provide an academic reference from The Open University, which provides further details of the modules and subjects that the degree covered. During my degree I undertook several research projects; the last was based on cognitive biases and personality. I am highly motivated and eager to begin working in the care sector again, I am willing to complete any necessary further training required. I have good English and IT skills; I used computers during most of my degree from simple word process to running statistical programs (such as SPSS). I am willing to work hard to support colleagues and provide the best possible quality of support to service users. I am empathic, due to having a sister with disabilities I find it easy to communicate and build effective working relationships. I also have a full, clean driving license and am willing to start work or training immediately.
Although my experiences are mainly based on the ground level, I have many valuable years experience of working with adults with disabilities and I am willing to put in the hours to learn about necessary procedures and policies. The opportunity to work with children is the reason that I started my degree, the child development module was one of my favourite aspects and I would love the chance to support families in such a worthwhile post.
Qualifications
NVQ Level 2 in care1997Blantyre CentrePass
A Level Psychology2000-2001St Austell collegeB
A Level English Language2000-2001St Austell collegeB
A Level English Literature2000-2001St Austell collegeB
BSc (hons) Psychology2005-2009The Open University2:1
Discovering MathematicsOngoingThe Opening University
Areas of study
•Cognitive Psychology
•Child Development
•Biological Psychology: exploring the brain
•Social Psychology: critical perspectives on self and others
•Numerous research projects, the last being the effects of personality upon cognitive bias such as the over-confidence effect.
Professional Memberships
•Professional registration with the British Psychological Society.
Employment history
Specialised care assistant1997-1999Blantyre Centre
Bank worker: care assistant1997-1999Tregarne and Treveane
Support Worker/key worker2000Spectrum
Teaching assistant2000-2001Penrice Community College
Training and awards
During my time working in the care sector I acquired and attended several courses:
•First Aid
•Food hygiene
•Handling and lifting courses
•Two day course on Autistic spectrum disorder
•Breakaway techniques to deal with challenging behaviour
•Two day course on challenging behaviours
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