Our early years work in Northern Ireland is funded by the Public health Agency (PHA), and focuses on two strands:
- Supporting the infant mental health agenda in Northern Ireland
- Promoting and supporting the delivery to fidelity of the Incredible Years Parenting Programmes
Infant mental health in Northern Ireland
We are pleased to provide ongoing support to the PHA for the development and implementation of the infant mental health framework across the region.
As part of this work, we support the sharing of good practice through our popular series of lunchtime learning webinars – click here to learn more.
You can also catch up on recordings of previous webinars here.
Alongside Barnardo’s NI, we are pleased to co-facilitate the Northern Ireland Hub of the Association for Infant Mental Health UK. We’d love you to join us there – click here to learn more about membership options and benefits.
We also sit on the Steering Group for the Stronger from the Start Alliance, a collaboration of more than 40 voluntary sector organisations who are committed to keeping babies, infants and their families at the heart of policy and practice development.
You can read more about the Alliance here.
On October 3 2024, on behalf the Public Health Agency and the Stronger from the Start Alliance we will host Speak Up For Babies: Giving our most vulnerable the best start, our annual online infant mental health conference. Find out more here.
Incredible Years in Northern Ireland
Our Incredible Years® (IY) Northern Ireland series is a set of programmes for children, parents and teachers, designed to improve children’s social, emotional and behavioural skills and school readiness.
We have been commissioned by the Public Health Agency (PHA) to provide strategic support for Incredible Years programmes in Northern Ireland, ensuring that greater fidelity to the original programme is achieved.
The IYNI Co-ordination Project will focus on three activities:
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Strategic coordination of programme delivery across the region
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Establishment of a learning community to provide continuous support to delivery agents
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Establishing a standardised monitoring and evaluation system for programme impact and implementation
Read our project summary.
Watch our new video produced for IYNI by STEP. This features some of our project beneficiaries giving their perspectives on IYNI, why they’re involved and how that involvement has enhanced practice and outcomes.
Mapping and Fidelity Report
The Incredible Years® in Northern Ireland Mapping and Fidelity Report (2013–15) is the first study to provide detailed information and learning on Incredible Years in Northern Ireland.
Using the programme delivery year 2013/14, the report includes information about:
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Programme availability, scale and reach
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Profiles of participants, practitioners, delivery organisations and commissioners/funders
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A framework for assessment and actions for enhancing fidelity.
The report will be of interest to anyone currently engaged with or considering engagement with the Incredible Years interventions.
Contact us
For more information about Incredible Years, contact Paula Carson-Lewis [email protected]
If you deliver or manage Incredible Years programmes across NI, you can access our calendar of support programmes. Click here to see the calendar of events for 23/24.
You can also sign up to any of our events via our Eventbrite page – follow to stay updated!
For more information on our work in Northern Ireland, please contact our NI Early Years Lead, Claire Dorris [email protected]
For queries specific to the IYNI Support Calendar, please contact our NI Project Assistant, Paula Carson-Lewis [email protected]