Family Matters York

Family Matters York works across York and the surrounding area to strengthen relationships. We offer parenting courses alongside a mentoring service and events for couples. The quality of family relationships can affect long-term life outcomes. Receiving relationship education and support can make the difference between nurturing healthy, long-lasting relationships and family breakdown. Over 25 years, we have shown that we make a positive impact on parental confidence, on emotional wellbeing in families, and increase skills among parents and couples in communication, resolving conflict, showing affection and recognising negative patterns of behaviour.

We use resources from national charity Care For the Family (CFF) for much of our work. For parents, these resources combine evidence-based content around positive parenting approaches with space for parents to share experiences. For couples, we have developed a bespoke peer mentoring programme, called Reconnect, and also draw on pre-marriage and marriage resources from CFF. Our services are open and free of charge to all families and couples in York and the surrounding area regardless of age, ethnicity, financial situation, family structure, sexuality, or relationship status.

We work in partnership with a variety of organisations including schools and churches, and obtain our funding from grants, individual donors, and church supporters.