Hello, my name is Steve and I’ve just started with the Didcot Community Partnership as the Family Worker. Over the next three months I’m here to help kick start the Our Patch initiative, starting with Dads in Didcot (keep reading for more information).
I have lived in Didcot for over 20 years. My wife and I moved here in 2001 with our two young boys (now fully grown, but still living at home).
My background is in IT, working for a large software company for nearly 20 years. I was made redundant about 15 years ago so I joined the team at the Wallingford Children’s centre as a “Dads Worker”. Whilst there I helped run a range of services for families with young children including parent and toddler groups, breast feeding support groups, parenting workshops and a Dads group.
One of the most rewarding aspects of my time at the children’s centre was working with families on a one-to-one basis. As a family support worker I was able to help families and children to thrive regardless of their background.
Unfortunately children’s services have taken a bit of a hit in recent years due to the harsh financial environment. In 2016 a large number of Oxfordshire’s children’s centres were closed. Sadly, Didcot lost both it’s children’s centres and Wallingford too. So in early 2016, I joined a local private ambulance company, where I have worked since.
When I was offered the opportunity to help rekindle some of the family services for Didcot, I jumped at the chance. I’m really excited to be on-board with the Our Patch initiative.
For the Didcot community by the Didcot community
We have a great community in Didcot with all sorts of groups and clubs being run by some amazing volunteers. This work is vital to supporting our ever increasing numbers in the town. Along with a bunch of volunteers and trustees, I’ll be pulling together some of the great work that’s going on in our patch. The DCP Our Patch initiative will be there to help and support the community, but the vast majority or groups will be run by the wonderful volunteers that give up their time to support the ever growing community.
Initially we’re going to be concentrating on groups for families with young children (0-5 years), but as Our Patch grows we’ll be extending services to youngsters, teens, and young adults (and older ones too).
Dads in Didcot
To kick things off I’ll be running two Dads groups (Dads in Didcot). One group will be for dads with their children, and another just for the dads. These groups will be inclusive and diverse and we’ll welcome any dads or male carers (including grandads, uncles, and even siblings). Young, old, single, married, straight or gay, it doesn’t matter. The groups will be run on a Thursday at The King Alfred Drive Community Centre (or other local venues). Keep an eye out in social media, and on this website, for further details.
Why Dads?
Fatherhood can present lots of challenges. In Didcot we already have a number of fantastic groups dedicated to mums and toddlers. Some are exclusive to women (and rightly so) because they want to deal with issues around things like breast feeding (Didcot Baby Monday). Others, whilst not exclusively for women, can be daunting for men.
So we are introducing some dedicated opportunities for dads (and father figures) to meet, to share, to encourage and generally help each other out. The fact is that men, more often than not, relate better to other men and are more likely to be open and receptive to an all male environment.
What’s next?
This is just the start. In future “Our Patch” wants to help everyone in Didcot engage with the community. Some of that offering will be services run by the DCP Our Patch team, but mostly it will be for the Didcot community, by the Didcot community. The Didcot Community Partnership – Our Patch will be there to help and support.
This website is still being developed and is very much a “work in progress”. If you want to know more about the DCP you can get more information by clicking here.
If you want to get in touch please email me at ourpatch@dcp.org.uk.