Facilitator Spotlight: Michelle Rutter And The Team At Riverbank Trust

“What we love about Kids Matter is the ‘we are all in this together’ attitude that permeates through our groups.”

Riverbank Trust is a charity based in Richmond upon Thames, which seeks to reach out to vulnerable families. In 2017, we partnered with Kids Matter and ran our first ever programme. Since then we have not looked back and it has become one of the most favoured and successful elements of our work.

We have three trained facilitators and are currently running our sixth group between us!  We have had 26 mums attend our group, which has impacted 53 children. What we love about Kids Matter is the ‘we are all in this together’ attitude that permeates through our groups. We share personal parenting stories of both highs and lows and there are always tissues at hand.

The individual note at the end, with a gift celebrating their achievements, is one area that sets Kids Matter apart from other more conventional parenting groups. Sharing information has also been a real enlightening experience – particularly for our group just for those mums who have children with additional needs.

We have run five groups at church and one in our local school. We always meet for food and run our groups either over lunch or at breakfast time. We also provide a fully staffed crèche with planned activities and food for the children. At the end of our time together, the two comments we always get are: ‘nice sandwiches!’ and ‘what will I do on a Tuesday from now on?’ Such a special ministry for us to be a part of.

 

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