Freud’s family legacy
Online support for families to enhance family life and protect children from parental conflict.
The Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families (AFNCCF) provides a wide range of innovative help for children and families. They’re named after Anna Freud, a psychoanalyst who worked especially with children. She was the youngest daughter of Sigmund Freud.
The Anna Freud Centre has come a long way since then. Here’s their story:
The AFNCCF provides clear advice and guidance for parents in conflict or those who are separating. That includes advice about the impact on children, self-care and ways to move forward.
During the 2020-21 COVID lockdowns, the centre adapted its services to deliver them online. As part of the Reducing Parenting Conflict programme, they collaborated with frontline services to develop and test their Family Ties Online programme.
The AFNCCF has a multidisciplinary team of therapists who specialise in supporting families to protect children from parental conflict. They offer different kinds of support, and help parents choose the best option for them given the family’s individual circumstances.
Family Ties is an online therapy programme for families who would benefit from a ‘medium’ level of support. Some families will need more help than this, and the Centre can discuss alternative options with individual parents.
It is remarkable – in such trying pandemic circumstances – to see how quickly and effectively such different levels and skills can be blended together, delivered and shown to work. We appear, finally, to have a clear child-focused realisation of what so many separating families need.
