'I cried all the time before I found parents group'

A mother-of-four was in tears as she finished a parenting course as she praised it for helping to change her life.

Louise completed a 10-week programme designed to show parents how to manage feelings and behaviours to cope in difficult situations.

She said the "insightful" sessions run by Oldham Council's parenting team had "made me a better person".

"I used to cry all the time but now I don't cry all the time like I used to," said Louise.

Louise said the Family Links Nurture Programme had provided the support and guidance she was looking for.

"I've been going to so many different parenting groups and this one has actually helped and I'm a much better of a person for it," she said.

"I cried on the last day as it had been really insightful and really helpful.

"It's helped changed my life and my family's life."

Eleven parents recently completed the course held at Oldham Library.

This included Kamila, who said she was scared that she would be judged by taking part.

"That is the biggest thing," she said.

"This just goes to show that there's nothing to be scared of."

She added that she had already seen the benefit of the strategies she had learned and the friendships that she had made.

"This group makes you feel that you are never alone in your journey," she said.

"It has helped a lot in gaining strategies about how to manage my child's behaviour and how to self-regulate myself."

Carli Keane, parenting officer at the council, said: "There's a big stigma attached with parents actually accessing these groups because they think it's kind of a negative.

"But they're actually all good parents as they're actually committing to two hours every week for 10 weeks."

Councillor Shaid Mushtaq, cabinet member for children and young people, said the course helped "to give their children the best start in life".

"It is providing our parents with a toolkit to cope, creating a calmer, nurturing household, while making friendships and forming bonds to continue an emotional support network," she said.

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