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Relationships Matter Professional resources

Links to resources that may assist you with your direct work with learners' parents/carers in conflict

Introduction

Colleagues working in schools, who work directly with children and young people, have well-established relationships and are often perceived to be safe adults. This puts education professionals in a position of trust and enables them to support learners' families too. On this page you'll find a selection of resources that will support your work with families. 

The Relationships Matter Team

The Relationships Matter Team offers free inter-parental relationship support and training to staff who come into contact with children and parents in Bristol. Our work is to develop approaches to Reduce Parental Conflict thereby improving outcomes for children.

We support practitioners to:

  • -understand what the evidence says about harmful parental conflict on children and young people
  • -to increase confidence to begin conversations with parental couples (separated or together) about the quality of their relationships
  • -to be able to identify parental conflict and distinguish it from domestic abuse
  • -to provide support that leads to improved outcomes for children and their families

If you would like to find out more on available resources and how we can support you please don’t hesitate to email us at relationshipsmatter@bristol.gov.uk.

You can access the Relationships Matter training schedule here.

Parental conflict

Conflict is a normal part of any parent relationship. However, it can become a problem when conflict is frequent, intense and not resolved well. The latest research tells us that conflict is harmful to children and affects their mental health, behaviour and success at school.

Getting on Better cards were developed by relationship experts OnePlusOne, they can be used by professionals who are supporting parents. They have been designed to help think about relationships in new ways, with ideas on how to reduce tension and arguments. Parents can look through the cards and follow the suggestions either together or separately.