Two years on: reflections on becoming The Centre for Emotional Health

“When I became CEO of Family Links back in early 2022, I was told by a number of people that there was no way we could change our name. As we spent time reflecting on our values, vision, mission, and strategic direction it became clear that the name Family Links, which had served us so well for many years, no longer encapsulated all that we did or what our identity had evolved into. Becoming The Centre for Emotional Health felt like a natural step for us and we were so pleased that the vast majority of those we work in partnership with felt the same. Everyone deserves to have good emotional health and that is what we want to see – it’s a big vision, but why should anyone be left out?”

“I joined The Centre for Emotional Health as the Strategic Head of Impact and Research about 6 months after the rebrand from Family Links.

The vision of the charity resonated with my experience; particularly how important it is to have an awareness of how relationships and feelings drive behaviour whether you’re in the role of a partner, friend, or colleague (or even politician). Developing emotional health skills was the key to helping me to interact with the world in a more positive way.

The Centre for Emotional Health name centres those skills in everyday adult life in a way that resonates much more for me personally.”

“Emotional health has always underpinned our work. As the years have gone by, it has come more and more to the forefront. It therefore made complete sense to change our name – especially as we had recently set our vision of everyone living an emotionally healthy life.

From a training perspective, the name change has enabled even more people to benefit, as well as re-iterating to parents/carers that their emotional health is a key factor in their parenting.”

“Over the years you become used to using certain terminology to link to brand. Family Links was always a brand I understood and linked to The Nurturing Programme.

When Family Links rebranded to The Centre for Emotional Health it felt a natural progression that encompassed the heart of The Nurturing Programme. It builds upon core principles of The Nurturing Programme ensuring children and the parents are emotionally healthy, promote emotional literacy and health, enhance self-esteem in order that the parents can have effective strategies to be responsive to support challenges with behaviour.

The rebrand to The Centre of Emotional Health for me has been an easy transition and probably elevated The Nurturing Programme to be a well-established resource and training for practitioners.”

“The change was about so much more than just a name.  At our core we have always believed in nurturing emotional health and this change represented  our desire to build on that strong foundation and have a greater impact on society.  We are on that journey and look forward to creating even more conversations about the importance of emotional health and the skills we can all build to support it in ourselves, families, workplaces and communities.”

Marking this anniversary has offered an opportunity to pause and reflect on how the organisation has developed over time, and how the rebrand has supported that evolution.

While our name has changed, the values and commitments that are foundational to our work remain consistent. At the centre of this is a continued focus on emotional health, and its role in shaping relationships, behaviour, and everyday experiences across the families and communities we work with.