The Togetherness Programme, delivered through the Solihull Approach, provides an evidence-based, relationship-centred framework designed to strengthen the emotional health and wellbeing of children, parents, carers and families. It focuses on helping adults understand child development, including brain development and behaviour, and promotes sensitive, attuned relationships from pregnancy through to adolescence. The model draws on over 30 years of NHS clinical practice and research to deliver transformational change in communities.
Togetherness is flexible and can be delivered through a range of pathways – including antenatal, early years, SEND-inclusive routes, teen wellbeing, and adult emotional health. These pathways help families build confidence, strengthen relationships and create stable, nurturing environments in which children can thrive. The approach equips both families and practitioners with practical tools and strategies to manage behaviour, promote connection and reduce conflict.
The Togetherness Programme is designed to:
- promote emotional wellbeing by supporting children to develop resilience, social awareness and positive emotional health
- strengthen parent-child relationships, ensuring that sensitive interactions form the foundation of healthy development
- provide early, preventative support, helping families better understand behaviour, strengthen communication and address challenges before they escalate
- improve family stability, reducing parental conflict and stress and enhance the home environment
- enhance community and practitioner capability, offering accessible online and in-person learning pathways across early years, family hubs and community settings
These aims align strongly with national evidence that highlights the central role of secure, responsive relationships in improving children’s long-term outcomes.
Why togetherness meets Wirral’s needs
Strengthens early intervention, a core Wirral priority
Our Best Start in Life Plan emphasises early help, integrated support and improving the home learning environment as essential foundations for children’s long-term wellbeing. The Togetherness Programme directly supports these aims by providing parents with evidence-based tools from conception onwards, helping them understand and respond to their child’s needs at the earliest point.
Supports key outcomes around reducing escalation to Social Care
Early Help outcomes show that the service has successfully prevented many families from escalating into higher-level services. The Togetherness approach reinforces this progress by focusing on communication, attachment and behaviour management – areas shown to prevent breakdown and reduce crisis-led intervention.
A perfect fit for Family Help and Family Hubs
Family Hubs and the wider Best Start in Life offer in Wirral rely on partnership models that promote early engagement and consistent support. Registration rates are rising and the system is becoming more joined-up. Togetherness complements this model by offering a structured, scalable framework that can be embedded across hubs, schools and community services.
Accessible, inclusive and scalable
With multiple online pathways – including those for SEND and multilingual families – the programme supports inclusive access and flexible engagement. This help reach families who may be less confident accessing services in-person.
Summary
The Togetherness Programme offers a compassionate, research-driven approach that aligns seamlessly with Wirral’s aspirations for its Best Start in Life Plan. It strengthens emotional wellbeing, supports family relationships, enhances early intervention and complements the integrated model already developing across early years services. By embedding Togetherness across the system, Wirral can further enhance outcomes for babies, children and families.
Empowering Parents, Empowering Communities (EPEC)
Empowering Parents, Empowering Communities (EPEC) is an evidence-based parenting programme that combines developmental science with proven parenting strategies to support families from birth through adolescence. Delivered through trained and supervised peer facilitators, EPEC provides accessible, community-based parenting support designed to strengthen positive parent-child relationships, improve behaviour and increase family resilience.
The programme offers a portfolio of structured, manualised group courses tailored to different developmental stages – from babies under 1 to children aged 2-11 and specialist groups for families facing additional challenges such as ADHD, Autism, parental mental health concerns or co-parent conflict. These sessions typically take place over 8 weekly, 2 hour groups, using interactive, engaging methods including discussions, demonstrations, role-play and at-home practice.
Purpose of the programme
EPEC has a clear focus on improving outcomes across child development, parenting confidence and family resilience. Specifically, the programme aims to:
- improve child behaviour and development, supported by evidence of short-term positive impact on behaviour outcomes.
- strengthen parent-child communication and attachment, with a core emphasis on emotional warmth, reflective parenting and child-led play.
- increase parental confidence and efficacy, helping parents develop predictable routines, age-appropriate expectations and effective behaviour-management strategies.
- enhance access to support for disadvantaged or marginalised families, including Black and minoritised communities, through its peer-led and community-based delivery model.
- build community capacity, training local parents as certified group leaders who then support other families, deepening community resilience and sustainability. This combination of peer leadership, structured content and accessible delivery ensures EPEC meets families where they are and supports enduring positive change.
Why EPEC meets Wirral’s needs
Aligns with Wirral’s commitment to early help and prevention
Wirral prioritises early intervention, improving home environments and reducing escalation to statutory services. EPEC directly supports these aims by providing targeted parenting support known to reduce child behaviour difficulties and improve family resilience.
Strengthen support for families in high-need communities
EPEC is specifically designed to improve access for socially excluded and minoritised families, groups who may face barriers in engaging with traditional services. Its peer-led model builds trust and reduces stigma – making it highly suitable for areas of deprivation within Wirral where engagement can be more challenging.
Complements Wirral’s early help system
With Family Hubs central to the Best Start in Life offer, EPEC’s small-group, community-based sessions fit naturally within Wirral’s existing infrastructure. Groups can be delivered in hubs, early years setting or schools – exactly the community venues that Wirral already uses to strengthen early engagement.
Builds community capacity through peer facilitation
EPEC’s emphasis on training local parents as facilitators aligns strongly with Wirral’s ethos of co-production and community empowerment. Parent-led delivery helps create sustainable, long-term capacity within communities and complements the borough’s wider ambitions to deliver support earlier and closer to families.
Summary
EPEC provides a robust, accessible and community-driven model that aligns strongly with Wirral’s Best Start in Life ambitions. Its evidence-based approach strengthens parenting, improves child outcomes, and enhances resilience within communities while offering a parent-led model that reflects Wirral’s focus on early intervention, equity and family-centred support.
Integrating EPEC into Wirral’s early years and Family Help pathways will help ensure that families receive timely, practical and empowering support.