The role of community champions in place-based early years support: how can we successfully share knowledge and build parent confidence?

This article discusses the role of community champions in providing early years support to parents, particularly those from low-income families. The article emphasizes the importance of addressing health inequalities and engaging parents across the socio-economic spectrum. The case study presented focuses on a program called Building Babies Brains, which uses community champions to disseminate evidence-based neuroscience and parenting strategies to parents within the community. The article highlights the core relational elements that led to improved peer-to-peer knowledge exchange, including attending to immediate needs, gauging the right moment, getting alongside the parent, providing praise and validation, and revisiting. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of building trusting relationships and the need for further research on the impact of these messages on parent behavior. [Extracted from the article]