Early intervention programme for minority Jewish families delivers significant improvements in mental health

Togetherness is proud to celebrate the findings of a recent study of a pioneering early intervention programme developed with First Steps mental health programme working with the Jewish Orthodox community in Hackney, London. Published in the Community Practitioner*, the report, Solihull Approach Groups for Orthodox Jewish Mothers, reinforces the evidence for the impact of culturally adapted and family focussed groups in improving both child and parent emotional health. 

Understanding your child’s behaviour, a course delivered over 10 weeks for parents cocreated with First Steps and Koach Parenting, a charity founded by a member of the local Orthodox Jewish community, adapted an established Solihull Approach model. The study of 46 mothers reported: 

• significant decreases in depression, anxiety and stress  
• progress towards parenting goals  
• perceived increase in children’s levels of warmth 

The programme was developed in response to significant disparity in parents from the Orthodox Jewish community accessing parent support – with not a single family from the large community in Hackney among the 141 parents attending groups between 2012-14. The collaboration was also motivated by evidence highlighting risks to children from minority communities reluctant to seek help outside their communities and facing challenges in accessing mainstream mental health support services. 

The Togetherness programme for parents which builds upon established psychoanalytic theory and practice experience to support close, connected, parent-child relationships. It was tailored in partnership with both First Steps and Koach Parenting to ensure engagement. Supporting typically larger family sizes, the course covered a broader range of developmental stages delivered by facilitators who had direct experience within the community. The partnership also led to the development of supplementary materials called “Torah thoughts,” which addressed spiritual or religious aspects of parenting. 

The report’s findings reinforce the case for further cultural adaptation of programmes to improve both engagement and impact. Framing the core teaching of the Solihull Approach makes the benefits accessible and relevant for families for whom engaging with mental health services has been challenging to date. Positively, First Steps continues to run Understanding your child’s behaviour for Jewish Orthodox mothers and is embedding learnings to shape new programmes for other minority communities in Hackney.  

* Original paper: Hill, B., Boscoe, A. and de Lange, B. (2021). Solihull Approach Groups for Orthodox Jewish Mothers. Community Practitioner, 94(1), 44-47