The Healthy Relationships Partnership (HRP) is a collective of Hartlepool agencies led by Changing Futures North East, a local community organisation. We created it in 2015, supported by the Early Action Neighbourhood Fund, with the aspiration to make Hartlepool the place with the healthiest relationships in the country.

Locally, we knew there was a lack of focus on the relationship between the parents of a child from practitioners within the early help system. That was despite evidence, reviewed in 2016 by the Early Intervention Foundation, suggesting that the quality of the interparental relationships – specifically how parents relate and communicate with one another – has a huge impact on children’s welfare and well-being. It is a critical determinant of children’s life chances.