What is an Early Help Worker or Family Support Worker?

An Early Help Worker or Family Support Worker supports families who are facing difficulties that don’t yet meet the threshold for statutory (social work) involvement. Their goal is to offer help early, before challenges become crises, by working alongside families to build resilience, understanding and practical strategies.

They support families where there may be additional needs, neurodivergence, trauma, or emotional distress. This is what the people doing this job had to say about it:

Early Help Workers often:

• Visit families in their homes or meet in schools and community settings.
• Support parents with behaviour strategies, routines, or communication.
• Work with children 1:1 or in small groups on emotional literacy and coping tools.
• Attend multi-agency meetings to coordinate support.
• Help families navigate services, referrals, and paperwork (e.g. DLA, EHCPs).

They build relationships based on trust and collaboration.

Family Support Workers may not be required to hold formal qualifications but usually have:

• Extensive training in safeguarding, neurodivergence, mental health, and trauma.
• Backgrounds in education, youth work, social care, or parenting support.
• Ongoing CPD in areas like ADHD, autism, domestic abuse, and emotional wellbeing.

Their practical, relational experience is often their greatest asset.

Early Help Workers can:

• Help parents understand what PDA is and how it presents.
• Support schools to adapt approaches and avoid escalation.
• Offer strategies for reducing conflict and anxiety at home.
• Validate and empower parents who are often blamed or misunderstood.

They are often among the first professionals to see the family’s whole picture.

Family Support Workers who work well with PDAers tend to:

• Listen without judgement and offer compassionate validation.
• Use low-demand, flexible approaches to support the child and family.
• Avoid traditional behaviour charts or rigid routines.
• Encourage co-regulation and emotional safety rather than control.
• Help parents and schools reframe behaviour as communication.
• Adapt sessions to reduce pressure, including meeting in calm or neutral spaces.

They often act as bridges between home and school, helping everyone feel more understood.

The Early Support Workers we spoke to said that for families of PDAers, they can:

• Prevent escalation to social care or school exclusion.
• Help reduce isolation and build confidence.
• Advocate for approaches that respect the child’s needs and strengths.
• Support emotional wellbeing for the whole family.

Their role is practical, responsive, and rooted in relationship.

PDAers and their families often tell us how confusing and unsettling it can be to meet new professionals – especially when it’s not clear what their job is or what good support looks like. That’s why we asked professionals themselves to tell us, in their own words, what they do. You’ll find their honest, personal answers in the ‘What professionals do’ section of our site.

This is a growing resource, so if you don’t see the role you’re looking for yet, you could ask the person you’re working with to fill in this short form.

Please note: these insights come from individual professionals, not official organisations, so you might find some variation in how people describe their roles. If you’re wondering whether a service you’ve been offered is the right fit, our guides to finding helpful support can help.