Published 25 October 2023
Families in West Dunbartonshire will benefit from specialist help and support as new Whole Family Wellbeing Hubs open across the area.
The aim of the three hubs - set up in Clydebank, Dumbarton and Alexandria - is to improve family wellbeing, reduce inequalities between the most and least disadvantaged communities and reduce the number of families needing crisis intervention.
The hubs will also offer a range of universal, targeted and specialist services offering help and support, which will encourage families to flourish.
The Council, along with West Dunbartonshire Health and Social Care Partnership, has invested £604,000 in the sustainable supports to ensure families can access help where and when they need it.
Feedback from a multi-agency steering group and meetings with parents, Kinship Carers and information from key partners including the Champions Board, Y-Sort-It WDC Youth Council and Young Ambassadors has ensured carers and all young people’s groups are represented and their needs proactively considered.
The information and views gathered have shaped the family support on offer and contributed to the development and planning of services to ensure they are sustainable and lead to long term positive outcomes for children and young people.
Councillor Clare Steel, Convener of Educational Services, said: “I am very grateful to everyone who has given their feedback in the development stages of these hubs. This information has been instrumental in ensuring we provide the right support which has given us a great opportunity to transform services for families and children and develop a strategic approach that focuses more on prevention. It is also pleasing to see our partners working together to re-align our resources and priorities offering a range of specialist services and family support which is timely and accessible with early intervention and prevention at its core.”
Councillor Michelle McGinty, Chair of West Dunbartonshire Health and Social Care Partnership and Vice Chair of the Community Planning Partnership, said: “I am pleased to see the hubs open and it is great to see the progress we’ve made in offering this additional support to our families. Our priority now is to ensure families who need support know where their local hub is to visit for support and guidance. The diverse range of specialist services that is available in the hubs will include Neurodevelopmental workers; Includem; Education Outreach workers; Specialists in Family Group Decision Making; Speech and Language Therapists; Occupational Therapists and Family Nursing staff.”
The hubs are open Tuesday-Thursday at the Y-Sort-it Base, Bonhill; Concorde Centre, Dumbarton; Hub Community Centre, Clydebank between 9.30am until 4pm.