We go the extra mile to help children flourish and aid them in developing their basic yet vital skills. We act as interim support during the wait period after referral to CAMHS and in turn reduce expenditure on current service.

We focus on enabling children and families to learn developmentally appropriate skills such as Communication, Play, Self-help, Behaviour, Interaction, Transitions, Social functioning, Attention and Emotional support. We believe that every behaviour is communication. We go above and beyond to find the roots of troubling behaviour and then support the whole family with behavioural strategies and interventions professionally tailored to the individual child. 

Nurture Steps provides secondary tier targeted services, including

• Preparing children for primary school
• Giving parents guidance & tools to understand and support their children
• Triage upon request of services
• Skill assessments through reporting & observations (individually, with family and in a group)
• Development of individualised evidence-based plan, support & intervention 
• Collaborative working with other specialists

Our services have been shown  to:

• help parental mental health through reduced stress and anxiety about their child through the progress their child makes and better understanding their child
• reduce Local Authority cost and NHS cost in the long term
• reduce the number of children admitted to residential care and 2-1 long term support
• reduction in medicalisation for sleep problems and behaviour difficulties

Probably the most asked question is ‘How Does it Work?’  We’ve put together this video to better explain our intake process!

This is a tricky one, because all of our work is child-centred and child specific.  Some children will take to strategies straight away whilst others may need a trial and error of techniques to pick up what they need to, therefore the time it takes can vary. This can be challenging but we are with you every step of the way!  Remember our Values and how they affect our work:

• Keeping the best interest of the child at the centre
• Using play as the primary stepping stone to skill acquisition
• Recognising strengths and abilities in all children and their capacity to learn new skills and behaviours
• Focusing on one child at a time
• Recognising and promoting that problems do not come from the children themselves but their environment.
• The realisation that not only can we help we must.

We work on the basis that every child gets 10, 1-1 Sessions, but if they need more that is no problem, we adapt as we go and are not stuck in a rigid framework like some other oragnisations!

Our core services are individual support, online community support and online short courses for parent self-help. All our services are voluntary. Families can opt-in and opt-out. 

Individualised 1-1 intervention and support of Early Positive Behaviour Support 

We have designed a referral system with structured assessment pathways. Once a family goes through the informal assessment, they can sign an agreement and go through developmental, functional & interest evaluation. Based on these, we will help parents see their child’s strengths, gaps and set the first and most important goals for the near future. We will compile a Positive Behaviour Intervention plan to guide you.

Families can then access three months of minimum 3hrs per week of support. This includes:

• Fun yet purposeful sessions with the child, parent and consultant in our centre or in their home.
• In-person observation and guidance at home.
• Online observations and weekly phone calls. 

The aim is to help parents identify opportunities and encourage first sounds, words, new play skills, and new or positive behaviours. 

After the first 3 months, families can continue reduced services for the next 3 months of 2 hours a week. 

After these 6 months, the family can continue with our services with the number of hours that suits them (between 1 – 5hrs).

Online parent guidance: We have designed three sets of informative resources and courses for parents

• ACT – Acceptance and Commitment for parents who feel stuck or upset. This course is designed to help them find a way out, focus on themselves. This course combines mindfulness and value-based actions to help them in daily life. 

• Preparation for assessments – This resource helps parents prepare for Autism or Assessment by Disability team section 23. This self-paced course shouldn’t take parents more than 2hrs of preparation. However, if they want to be more thorough, it might take 1-2 weeks.

• Early behaviour support is for parents who want to better support their child.  The course contains training in communication, empathy and teaching methods for new skills including day to day living, toileting, socialising or sleeping

Nobody likes talking about money, least of all a charity but sadly it is an inevitability that we may not ALWAYS have funded spaces.  However, if we do not have funded spaces available we can point you in the right direction!  Organisations like Cash4Kids can provide funding to families for support.  We can guide you through this process, all you have to do is ask!

We have a set pricing structure for privately paying families. Please contact us to discuss it.

If you want to help a family, you can do so here

We’ve been meeting and speaking to so many families of older children aged 5-10 who are really struggling because they did not know their child can communicate or learn new skills so fast because nobody ever told them or showed them how to do it.

Whilst working with these families it became apparent there is insufficient access to services, long waiting times and sometimes a rigid framework that both families and professionals can become ensnared in. These factors and the costs that can be linked to support have a tendency to cause mental health struggles for children and parents alike.

Nurture Steps recognises the significant and often overwhelming challenges many families face in accessing timely, appropriate and supportive interventions for children with neurodevelopmental challenges.

Ultimately we want all children to have and achieve policy change within NHS Early Years & Education which would in turn support the systematic implementation of E-PBS.

Our services are focused on identifying and building on strengths within the family unit by providing them with practical, responsive strategies and skills to support them in managing their difficulties. Through developing a shared understanding of a child’s behaviour we encourage families to learn and respond appropriately using positive reinforcement and taking a thoughtful approach, which in turn reduces stress and increases resilience.