Website: https://www.familysupportwork.org/
Dear Friends,
It hardly seems any time at all since my last update to you. With Easter well and truly behind us we are focussing on the core work of FSW – our one-to-one family visits, as well as planning a busy summer schedule.
We were delighted to welcome Michelle Stokes to the team at the start of April – Michelle is the new assistant family support practitioner for Midhurst, Petworth and Storrington. Michelle will be assisting the practitioners in these areas with group activities, family outings and general support which will enable us to work with more families and increase our offering in these areas. Our Worthing practitioner, Lydie, retired from FSW at the end of April – we are so grateful for her caring support of so many families over the years, particularly her work with refugee families, and wish her a long and happy retirement.
We recently received a message from a young adult whose family we supported for many years. The young person was a teenager when we first started supporting the family, and had some very challenging experiences to deal with. The family is no longer on our client base but she and her practitioner remained in touch. We wanted to share her message with you as it really shows the value of our long-term support:
“I just want to say how grateful I am to you for helping me through life. It’s been a long journey and a scary one too but I think I’ve nearly made it. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you. You mean so much to me and mum so I just want to say thank you for believing in me.”
Our events schedule is now in full swing, although unfortunately the recent bad weather meant the cancellation of the first open gardens of the season in early April. We would love to see you at any of the events, details of which can be found on our website. We do hope that you will particularly support our new Cuckmere Pilgrim walk on 30th May, which promises to be a really special event.
Nikki Kerr, FSW Director of Fundraising and Marketing