Is it normal for me to be so insecure?

A small child can turn your life upside down. Sometimes pregnancy alone throws all life plans into disarray. It's good to have someone to talk to who knows where to get help. The Chemnitz Early Help and Preventive Child Protection Network offers advice and help in such situations.

In cooperation with the National Centre for Early Help (NZFH) and the state of Saxony, the City of Chemnitz's Early Help and Preventive Child Protection Network is launching a new campaign to support parents seeking advice.

Attractive posters, postcards and materials are now available to take away in the city of Chemnitz. Under the motto "Normal, that I'm so insecure?" and other slogans, they motivate young and expectant parents to use the anonymous and free parents' hotline of the "Nummer gegen Kummer" (NgK) and the online counselling for parents of the Bundeskonferenz für Erziehungsberatung e. V./bke.

Both of these providers, which are established nationwide in the field of parenting counselling, provide open advice on all topics and refer parents to local early help services. For example, family midwives, parent-child groups, early intervention centres or family education programmes can help here. Together with the parents, they can provide support and find solutions.

Early help is aimed at families and children from pregnancy to the age of three and helps to ensure that parents can take good care of their children, especially when things get difficult and problems arise.

"The parents' helpline is a nationwide telephone call, counselling and information service that provides all parents with fast, competent and anonymous support in sensitive but also everyday issues," explains Rainer Schütz, Managing Director of Nummer gegen Kummer e. V. V. "With this service, we particularly want to reach young parents in difficult life situations. The counsellors on the parents' helpline know which early help services can be helpful for callers and motivate them to make use of them."

The parent helpline is available anonymously and free of charge from Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on 0800 1110550.

The online counselling service for parents provided by the Bundeskonferenz für Erziehungsberatung e. V. (bke) is available around the clock, seven days a week. It offers support for all parenting issues from professional counsellors. "Young parents in particular often find their first access to free parenting advice online," says Silke Naudiet, Managing Director of the Bundeskonferenz für Erziehungsberatung e. V. (bke). "They also benefit from the exchange with other parents in the moderated group chats and forums. The anonymity also helps to make it easier to address shameful topics." All bke online counselling services and the times of the open consultation hours can be found at www.bke-elternberatung.de.

The materials for addressing parents and networking with the counselling services are funded by the National Centre for Early Intervention (NZFH) with funds from the Federal Initiative for Early Intervention of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ). The NZFH is supported by the Federal Centre for Health Education (BZgA) in cooperation with the German Youth Institute (DJI). Since 2007, it has been supporting professional practice in recognising family stress at an early stage, providing needs-based services and promoting networking between the various professional groups. It also coordinates the Federal Foundation for Early Intervention at federal level. Further information can be found at www.fruehehilfen.de.

You can reach the coordination centre of the City of Chemnitz on 0371 488-5668 and
0371 488-5134 or by e-mail to jugendamt.fruehehilfen(at)stadt-chemnitz.de