Forres Families Find Their Footing at Our Weekly Wellbeing Sessions

There is something quietly powerful about a room full of new parents. The tired eyes, the hopeful smiles, the babies balanced on knees — all of it speaks to the same truth: raising a child is one of the most demanding and rewarding things a person can do, and nobody should have to figure it out alone. That is the simple belief at the heart of what Vibrant Health Advocates – Hermes does each week in Forres.

Our child-wellbeing sessions run regularly in the heart of this small Moray town, drawing in families from Forres itself and the surrounding villages. Some parents come because a health visitor pointed them our way. Others arrive after a word from a friend at the school gates. A few stumble in looking uncertain, a changing bag over one shoulder and a toddler on the other hip, and within twenty minutes they are laughing with someone they have never met before.

The sessions are deliberately informal. There is no clipboard waiting at the door, no form to fill in before you can have a cup of tea. Families sit together in a comfortable space and a member of our team moves between them, answering questions, offering reassurance, and occasionally just listening. Topics come up organically — sleep routines, feeding challenges, developmental milestones, what to do when a toddler refuses every vegetable known to science — and the conversation flows naturally between parents and our trained staff.

What we offer is not medical advice and we are careful to say so. What we do provide is clear, evidence-based information on children's early health, delivered in plain language by people who genuinely care. We talk through what is typical at each stage of a child's development, when it makes sense to contact a GP, and how to build the small daily habits that support a young child's physical and emotional growth.

For many families in and around Forres, the sessions have become a weekly anchor. One mother who joined us when her daughter was three months old described it as the first place she felt she could ask a question without feeling judged. Her daughter is now walking and chattering, and her mother still comes most weeks — now as much for the community as for the information.

That is what we hoped to build when Hermes first started working in this community: not just a resource, but a place. A place where growing families in Moray can feel supported through all the uncertainty and joy of the early years. If you have a young child and you live in or near Forres, you are very welcome to join us.