Hello, I’m Jo! I’m lucky to be part of a passionate and skilled team at Catholic Care, and really enjoy my role going into schools to provide support to children, families and staff.

Another exciting area of my role is being part of the Connective Parenting Programme. Connective Parenting is a child-focused and relationship-based approach that takes its foundations from the model of NVR (Non-Violence Resistance). The framework of NVR supports parents and carers to develop strong, positive relationships with their child and manage difficult, conflictual situations if these are present.

The programme is for 6 weeks, and during this time I make visits to families in their homes. It’s a very positive, supportive, and empowering programme to help families build strong connections and create opportunities for change in behaviour and relationships. It’s always individual for each family and based on their needs.

During the sessions we explore supportive activities to help families prioritise their concerns and create plans to address these, which works to reduce potential overwhelm where there are multiple issues present.

We take time to reflect on communication and, alongside NVR, we consider another valuable approach: PACE (Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy). PACE helps us focus on how we think, feel, behave, and communicate, with the aim of making the child feel safe. Over the course of the programme, we explore how to apply PACE communication to help build trusting, connected relationships.

An important theme of the programme is around self-care for parents and carers. With the mindset that ‘You cannot pour from an empty cup’, we explore ideas of how to help parents and carers identify and meet their own needs too, and think about their support systems.

Throughout the programme we work at the pace of each family, to gradually introduce strategies, focusing on those which are most suitable for them, with the aim that these will develop over time, where it is hoped that positive changes for the whole family will be experienced.

If you have any questions or would like to talk to me about Connective Parenting, it would be great to hear from you. Please contact me.

At the end of Mass, in front of a full church, he presented the Diocesan Medal to Rachel Saul and Sarah Mitchell for their amazing work in leading the Normanton and Altofts Community Sponsorship Scheme group of volunteers. Parish Medals, made especially for the occasion, were presented by the parish priest, Father Mark, to all the members of the group, and to Sue Parsons, Catholic Care’s Community Sponsorship Coordinator, in recognition of all the hard work they undertook in welcoming a Syrian refugee family.

As Father Mark reminded us all, the group were expecting a family of 4, and had a huge surprise when they met the family at the airport to realise that 4 would soon become 5, which it did when they soon welcomed a beautiful baby son as an addition to their family.

With the help and support of the group, the family is now settled in Normanton and enjoying their new life in the UK. All 5 family members were guests of honour at the very special Mass on Sunday.

Catholic Care first welcomed a refugee family under the Community Sponsorship Scheme, run in partnership with the Home Office, in 2019, through a group of volunteers from Settle. Since then, families have been welcomed in Ripon and Nidderdale, and groups in Ripon (second family for this group) and Huddersfield are now awaiting to welcome a family.

If you or your parish would like to welcome a refugee family in need please contact Sue Parsons.

The President of the Harrogate Circle, Chris Bohills, chose Catholic Care as the President’s Charity for his year in office, with the Harrogate Catenians raising £2,000 through raffles and generous donations from members throughout the year.

In the spring of 2023 Catholic Care’s Director, Carol Hill, and Head of Care Rachel Wilkinson attended a meeting of the Harrogate Circle to give a motivational talk about the history and work of the charity.

On 12th March this year Carol visited the Harrogate Catenians again and gratefully received a cheque for £2,000.

Carol said “This is an amazing amount of money and will be used to support many of our community projects which have no direct funding, in particular those around food poverty.”

Catholic Care is blessed to have a number of people with Down’s Syndrome among our service-users, volunteers, and supporters.

Our service for Adults with Learning Disabilities supports people with Down’s by providing residential homes, supported living, and supported housing, as well as outreach support.

We focus on a person’s ability and not their disability.

We use a fresh, outcome-focused approach, involving person-centred planning, to offer each individual greater independence and autonomy.

To mark World Down Syndrome Day, here are a dozen interesting facts:

Happiness is a fundamental human goal. The United Nations General Assembly recognizes this goal and calls for “a more inclusive, equitable and balanced approach to economic growth that promotes the happiness and well-being of all peoples.”

At Catholic Care we want happiness for our service-users, staff, volunteers, and supporters. It’s part of our commitment as a Mindful Employer.

In the March edition of the charity’s internal newsletter our Human Resources Manager, Katrina Greenhalf, shared some facts about happiness:

• Positive emotions make us more resilient and have a positive effect on our long-term mental wellbeing.
• Happiness is contagious! Smiling is contagious and can influence those around us. Have a look at the beautiful photos of people smiling in an album collated by the United Nations.
• Happier people live longer.
• Giving is good for you.
• Happiness is a skill you can learn.

Several of our services will be marking International Happiness Day, and staff are being invited to write poems about happiness.

Today the United Nations will publish its World Happiness Report 2024, centred around the theme of happiness for the young, the old, and everyone in between.

The role of Mayor – ‘first citizen of Kirklees’ – is a civic ceremonial position elected annually. Catholic Care was delighted that Councillor Burke visited one of our services so soon after attending our charity’s 160th anniversary Thanksgiving Mass in December.

The Mayor’s arrival was greatly anticipated by residents and staff. Soon enough, the Mayor’s limousine pulled into the car park where he was greeted by Carol Hill (Director of Catholic Care), Karen Hollingworth (Senior Manager for the Adult Learning Disability Service), and Julie Wade (Registered Manager at Westhaven).

Westhaven Court, which formally opened in 2022, provides the very latest model in supported living for adults with a learning disability, providing fully self-contained apartments, each with its own front door. Tenants are supported to be as independent as they are able, and live life to the full.

The Mayor and Canon Martin had a very special hostess for the day; C. lives at Westhaven and was delighted to guide both distinguished guests around. She showed them her apartment, explaining what new living skills she’d learned since moving in, and saying how pleased she was to be at Westhaven. The guests also visited D. who showed the Mayor the many holiday photographs on his wall. A tour of the physical disability apartment was followed by light refreshments.

Mayor Cahal said he was “delighted to have such a resource to support those with a learning disability in Kirklees”. Canon Martin said he was “amazed at the quality of the homes Catholic Care was providing for people in need”.

This means that we work together with local community groups who want to help displaced families resettle in Yorkshire.

Our Community Sponsorship Coordinator, Sue Parsons, writes:

The Syrian family supported by the Nidderdale Welcome Community Sponsorship Group have been living in Pateley Bridge for nearly eighteen months now.

The family members have worked several part-time jobs, but their real dream is to have their own catering business. The Sponsorship Group volunteers who pop in to see them have been really impressed with the family’s cooking.

To bring their dream a little closer, H. and M. ran a pop-up restaurant in Summerbridge Methodist Church on the evening of 13th January. It was a huge success! They served sixty people with a selection of six starters, seven hot main courses, and two delicious desserts.

As well as enjoying delicious Syrian food, the diners improved their knowledge of Syria, taking part in a quiz between the main course and dessert. The family’s story was printed out and put on every table, and everybody was moved reading it. The parents had left Syria in 2011 and lived as refugees in neighbouring Lebanon and Jordan. The births of their three daughters prompted their decision to register with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to secure a happy and safe life elsewhere. The family arrived in Pateley Bridge in July 2022. They are very happy there and taking part in community life. In fact, they are so keen to be part of the local community that every single member of the family entered an item at the Nidderdale Agricultural Show.

The tenants at Oakdene Supported Living made a New Year’s resolution at their January 2024 meeting: to hold a country-themed day every couple of months.

The first such event on 2nd February was Indian-themed. Tenants decorated their home in the orange, white, and green of the Indian flag.

D. cooked Murgh Kari, an authentic Indian chicken curry. This was accompanied by poppadoms, naan bread, onion bhajis, and yoghurt sauce: this was certainly N.’s favourite part!

Tenants enjoyed learning facts about India; this knowledge was put to the test with a quiz, with everyone winning a bag of chocolate. D. said he learned a lot and has gone on to learn other facts about India.

The tenants said the first themed-day was a great success, both informative and fun. D. would like the next one to be about Italy, whilst R. has suggested London.

Catholic Care’s Community Manager, Michelle Vink, writes:

After nearly two years, the St. William’s Lunch Group in Bradford has returned to the renovated St. William’s Church Hall.

In true style, we had a little celebration with cake and sherry thrown in too!

A huge thank you to all the volunteers who helped to make this happen, and also to Fr. Paul Grogan for allowing us to use St. John’s Church Hall for the last two years; it really was appreciated.

Thank you to Shelley for the delicious meal, and Luisa too.

On 9th January 2024 Catholic Care’s Friendship Group at Saints Peter and Paul in Yeadon heard an encouraging presentation from Ingrid Fernandes, Catholic Care’s Community Development Worker and Nutritional Adviser.

Ingrid spoke about macro and micronutrients and the ‘hands approach’ which measures healthy portion sizes according to the size of our hands.

Twenty-seven people took part in an hour-long activity which they really enjoyed.

Ingrid will be returning to Yeadon to talk about the importance of water in a healthy lifestyle.