4th July 2025
The Institute of Health Visiting is delighted to be working on a new project, funded and supported by Kindred2. The project aims to further equip health visiting teams in promoting babies’ brain development in their conversations with parents and carers.
There is global consensus and supporting evidence that the foundations of the brain’s architecture are built in the critical period from pregnancy to the age of two. Early experiences influence the wiring of the brain, shaping a baby’s long-term cognitive, emotional and social capabilities.
Health visitors have unique, universal access to all families during these first 1,001 days, and are well-placed to work with parents and carers to support their babies’ brain development. It is vital that all health visitors and their teams have a strong understanding of early neurodevelopment and are equipped with the skills to communicate this knowledge clearly and effectively to the families they support.
Kindred2’s SEEN (Secondary Education around Early Neurodevelopment) Programme aims to embed an understanding of the key principles of early child development through the science curriculum. Originally developed and successfully piloted by researchers in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford, the key messages are now being translated and applied in learning opportunities for other groups working to support babies, children and families. The SEEN content will form the basis for the new health visiting programme of e-learning and additional resources, ensuring that practitioners are confident and competent to apply their knowledge in their everyday work alongside families.
The programme and accompanying resources will be co-developed and piloted with practitioners and parents through creation of a parent panel.
Our Parent Panel is rooted in co-production – a genuine partnership where parents and carers work alongside us from the very beginning of a project, helping to shape ideas, test approaches, and make decisions that lead to better outcomes for babies, children and families.
Our Parent Panel reflects a wide range of backgrounds and experiences – including young parents, dads, parents of children with additional needs, LGBTQI+, and parents from Black and other ethnically diverse communities. This diversity is our strength, bringing rich insight into what really matters to families today.
The new health visiting programme of e-learning and resources is expected to launch across health visitor networks in Spring 2026. For further information about our project please contact Vicky Gilroy, iHV Director of Innovation and Research, [email protected]
