Love Matters Isle of Wight

10/10/2026

Are you an organisation or small business that supports children or young people? Take a look at this fab opportunity to apply for grants up to £5000!

🔔The window to apply for funding through the Community Capacity Grant scheme is currently open! 🔔
Do you have an idea for a new group, club or activity that you feel will benefit local families? If so, you could apply for a grant to support with the set up and initial running costs.

Grants of up to £5,000 are available to help local groups, clubs and organisations create new provisions that support positive outcomes for babies, children, young people and families living on the Island.

The main focuses for this round of grants are:
◾️Provision to support Perinatal Mental Health 0 to 2 years and their families
◾️Provisions for children aged 5 years to 11 years
◾️Provision for children ages 12 years and above
◾️Focusing on targeted youth support
◾️Provision to support Young Carers

Come along to one of the application support sessions. This is a great opportunity to ask questions and get support with the application process.

The first support session takes place on:
📅Saturday 17 October,
🕦11.30pm to 12.30pm
📍County Hall, Newport

Places are limited so please email [email protected] to book by 12noon Friday 16 October.
Can't make this session? Don’t worry, we are offering a further session on:

📅Wednesday 21 October
🕔5pm to 6pm
📍County Hall, Newport

❗ The deadline for applications is midday on Monday 26 October 2026❗

09/10/2026

As part of my counselling training, I’ve been exploring the emotional support needs of parents and carers. What I found has reinforced something I’ve believed for a long time.

Parenting can bring enormous joy and love, but also emotional distress, overwhelm, exhaustion and moments when we simply need someone to listen and understand.

Parents and carers want emotional support, yet the barriers to accessing it can be significant. Cost and childcare, in particular, can make getting the support we need feel almost impossible , especially when we’re already struggling.

My research also highlighted the importance of the relationship between a person and their counsellor. Feeling safe, heard, accepted and understood isn’t an optional extra. The relationship itself is a vital part of what makes emotional support meaningful.

And this is where my heart comes back to Love Matters. ❤️

I believe parents and carers are pivotal to the long-term health and wellbeing of their children. But we cannot keep asking parents to pour from an empty cup, or expect them to navigate the hardest parts of family life without support.

When we care for parents and carers, we are also caring for their children — and for the wellbeing of our wider society.

This is the dream behind Love Matters: to make compassionate, meaningful emotional support more accessible to parents and families. To create spaces where people feel accepted rather than judged, supported rather than fixed, and reminded that they don’t have to face everything alone.

My research has reminded me that this isn’t just a nice idea. There is a real need for it.

I don’t have all the answers yet, but I feel more determined than ever to keep building towards a future where emotional support is something families can genuinely access, not something they have to be privileged enough to afford.
Because love matters. Parents matter. And how we care for the people caring for our children matters, too.

I will unpack this more over the coming weeks… and also seek to signpost to wonderful support for parents locally and nationally…

05/10/2026

Some of you will already know Tash, but we wanted to properly reintroduce her as she becomes a bigger part of Love Matters.

Tash has recently completed the Gottman 7 Principles training alongside us and is now starting to offer 1:1 and 1:2 relationship sessions, as well as supporting the delivery of some of our courses and other Love Matters work.

Tash brings warmth, curiosity and a genuine passion for helping people feel heard and understood- values that are at the heart of everything we want Love Matters to be.

Love Matters isn’t about telling people how to have a “perfect” relationship or trying to fix them. It’s about creating a safe, compassionate space to understand ourselves, our partners and the patterns we can sometimes get caught in , and finding ways forward together.

So, welcome (back) Tash!

We’re really looking forward to seeing Love Matters grow and being able to offer more ways for people to access support, learning and connection.

CouplesSupport IsleOfWight

30/09/2026

Hello to Alexis! Welcome to the Team!

A message from Alexis…

“I am on a journey to become a counsellor when I met Katie. I was moved and inspired by what she had created with Love Matters. It felt relatable and so important to help educate people on relationships and how to navigate though tough times, whilst understanding the struggles we all face are normal and can be overcome successfully with the right tools. The Gottmans The Gottman Institute have proven this with courses and years of research into what truly Makes Relationships Work. The evidence based tools and ideas are simple to use and very effective - I feel it can give couples hope and confidence when they might feel a little lost.”

Alexis will be offering 1:1 and 1:2 relationship support sessions VERY soon alongside Katie and another team member!

Watch this space for more updates…

25/09/2026

Over the last 6 months, demand for 1 to 1 and 1 to 2 relationships support sessions has increased dramatically.

It’s been an honour and privilege to work with parents and carers who want to invest in their relationships…but to do that effectively, safely and efficiently we need a pause to regroup and implement learning and feedback from the last 6 months.

Due to increasing demand Love Matters has two new relationship educators who we’ll introduce soon!

Thanks for your love and support…

Sessions will continue but for now bookings and referrals are paused.

09/09/2026

Exciting news: I need your help!

As part of my Level 4 counselling course I have to submit a research project and mine is based on emotional support needs of parents and carers.

I want to submit this for my qualification, but beyond that k want to create an evidence base for the need for high quality emotional support and counselling for parents and carers.

It is my (and Love Matters) deeply held belief that if parents and carers are properly supported outcomes children and young people will also be better.

Please can you help by completing this 10-15 minute survey?

https://forms.gle/iiB6nWCoWdpLUZvD6

Your voice will help shape support for families ### THANK YOU! ###

07/09/2026

A little post summer update and more coming very soon! Xx

17/08/2026

For parent and carers of teens!

📣Being a parent/carer to a teenager can be rewarding and challenging at the same time!
💚Our 4-week online programme is there is to help you understand and navigate the teenage years, covering a variety of topics:
🟣Being the parent of a teenager & empathy,
🔵Teenager development, brain development and sleep,
🟢Communication,
🟠Managing conflict & difficult issues.

✨Next Dates:
📆 Mondays - September 21st to October 12th
🕰️ 5.30pm to 7.30pm
🖥️ Online via TEAMs
For more information on this FREE course and how to book a free place, follow the link to our Talking Teens page:
🔗www.isleofwightfamilycentres.org.uk/talking-teens

13/08/2026

I’m deeply touched and grateful and moved by the work Love Matters is doing…

1:2 Relationship Support Sessions have increased dramatically over the last few months… alongside my other commitments it’s not been easy to manage/coordinate and so there’s two new practitioners in training behind the scenes so the service can develop.

No matter where we’re from, or where we’re going, navigating parenthood while remaining close and connected to our partners can be a real challenge. Especially without sufficient wider support.

Please know we are (I am!) working extremely hard on getting more support available…

We are also working on a counselling service for parents alongside our current offer…

Although we are busy we are also available with more slots for 1:2 or 1:1 relationship support opening up in September…

Big love and please message any questions or nudge me if you’re waiting to hear from us!

08/08/2026

Are you a parent or carer? Make sure you make a date for this FREE event on Tuesday 10 to 2pm at Victoria Recreation Ground, Newport for some fab activities and information about all the wonderful activities and support on offer to families… you will be surprised I think by the enormous range of stuff for children, young people and parents/carers.

The event is organised by the fabulous Family & Community Team at Isle of Wight Council which do a superb job in reaching families so they can know about all the different types of support on offer to help us on our journey!