Get to know our friendly team and find out more about their roles at the Family Hubs. Visit the contact page if you need to get in touch with our staff.
Amanda Williams
What is your job at the Family Hubs?
“My role as an Early Years Family Hubs Support Worker is to support parents to understand that they are their children’s first teachers and everything that they do including reading, singing, playing, and talking to their children will support their learning and development before they start nursery or school.”
What do you like about your job?
“I love interacting with my families both face to face and online to be able to help to support them to be able to read, sing, talk and play with their children and it is nice to know that I am able to make a difference to the family I am working with.”
Hayley Rodgers
What is your job at the Family Hubs?
“My role as a Family Hubs Support Worker is to support parents and families to learn that they are their children’s first teachers and everything that they do including reading, singing, playing, and talking to their children will support their learning and development before they start nursery or school.”
What do you like about your job?
“I love being able to give families the support, resource, and time that they need to be able to be the best versions of themselves. It gives me a huge sense of joy to see the differences that are made within families who we work with.”
Iona Capstick
What is your job at the Family Hubs?
“I am a Speech and Language Therapist. I offer advice to parents, carers and professionals who have or are working with children under 5. I run an advice line for parents and carers who have concerns about their child’s communication skills and a monthly support group for parents and carers taking part in the Let’s Talk programme. I am the point of contact for professionals if they require speech, language and communication advice too.”
What do you like about your job?
“Supporting parents and carers is really rewarding, whether that is providing reassurance about their child’s communication skills or knowing that you have delivered advice to them. Ensuring that families have also been signposted to other relevant services is also a rewarding part of my job.”
Lindsay Thompson
What is your job at the Family Hubs?
“My role is Early Years Assistant Team Manager, where I lead the Family Information Service team. They ensure that families with children aged between 9 months and 4 years receive benefits and childcare which they are eligible for. We provide information, advice, and guidance on a range of services to both families and professionals through the Family Information Service Directory.”
What do you like about your job?
“I am proud to work with a team who supports children, so they can enjoy the best start in life.”
Liz Simpson
What is your job at the Family Hubs?
“My role involves working with children and families from the antenatal stage up until the child goes to school, we are classed as Early Years and Family Hub Support Workers. We work with parents and provide information advice and guidance around their child’s development especially around early brain development leading onto language and communication skills. We deliver interventions to support with this and also run an amazing babies group.”
What do you like about your job?
“I love my job, it’s a way of life and not just a job, and the reason I love it so much as I like to help and support families and making a difference to our babies helping them to be ready for school.”
Lottie Meekings
What is your job at the Family Hubs?
“My role is Family Information Service Advisor and involves providing advice and guidance to families about the funded childcare available to them.”
What do you like about your role?
“I enjoy helping families to source funded childcare which best suits their circumstances. This can enable parents to be able to return to work and help children get ready for school.”
Sandra Gallagher
What is your job at the Family Hubs?
“My role is Early Years and Family Hub Support Worker in the East Middlesbrough team. I support families from pregnancy until their child is 3 years old. I provide parents with essential information, advice and guidance through workshops, phone calls, virtually and through home visits.”
What do you like about your job?
“I enjoy empowering parents and carers and love to see them gaining extra confidence and knowledge in so many areas, after all they are their child’s first role model.”
Sheila Marley
What is your job at the Family Hubs?
“I am the Early Years and Family Hubs manager. My role is to manage the Early Years and Family Hubs service which consists of the Family Hubs, the Family Information Service, two Council nurseries, teaching and safeguarding leads who all work to ensure children’s early years education is the best it can be to improve outcomes for children under 5.”
What do you like about your role?
“I love the fact that, through the work of the team, parents are able to understand the impact they can have on their children’s development. I’m always very impressed by the case studies I read, and the pre- and post-evaluations from the programmes we run and the differences they make to families. I feel privileged to have such a great team of early years experts who all love their work.”
