16 Days of Activism - Day 11

Family Lives was formed over 45 years ago by volunteers, with the aim of ensuring that all parents had somewhere to turn before they reached crisis point by providing a dedicated organisation to support parents.

We know that the right support at the right time makes all the difference. Family Lives provides targeted early intervention and crisis support to families who are struggling. We support families with a wide range of issues including children’s early development, challenging relationships and behaviour, and emotional and mental wellbeing.

We are a volunteer-led organisation with around 200 volunteers across our different services. We simply could not do what we do without them, alongside our dedicated team of staff. Many of our volunteers began their relationship with us as service users but have stayed to support others on their journey. This is a testament to the support they themselves received. We have many different volunteering opportunities available based both at home and in local communities.

Our crisis support, provided through our helpline, chat and email services, has always been at the heart of what we do. We also have long-standing programmes in the areas we work in across England, providing support to thousands of families through our befriending, outreach and home-visiting services.

Since our beginnings, Family Lives has supported families from the very first days of becoming a parent through to the teenage years and beyond. We are proud to offer support across the age range so that families can turn to us whenever they need us.

Over the last few years, we have seen an escalation in calls from family members relating to concerns about the levels of violence that children and young people are using against them. This has resulted in our call-handlers raising concerns about the significant risk to parents/carers and other family members, as well as to the children themselves. To explore this issue in more detail, we undertook a data review to examine the ways in which child aggression and violence manifests itself in the family home, and to identify some of the

underlying contexts that callers shared with us in our report Feeling Under Siege. You can read this report on our website.

We are committed to supporting families experiencing child to parent aggression and violence, and are proud to be working with amazing organisations such as PEGS to raise awareness of the increase of child to parent aggression and violence, and the support available.

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Founding Director, Michelle, has been awarded an MBE in the Kings Birthday Honours for Family Support and Advocacy.

By PEGS Admin • June 15, 2026

Child to Parent Abuse organisation founder awarded MBE The founder of a social enterprise which has supported thousands of parents impacted by abusive behaviours from their children has been awarded an MBE. Michelle John, originally from Pembrokeshire in Wales but now based in Shropshire, was among the names announced for the prestigious accolade in the King’s Birthday Honours List this year. In 2020, Michelle set up not-for-profit organisation PEGS with the aim of supporting parents and carers, training professionals, influencing local and national policy, and raising awareness of Child to Parent Abuse – which is thought to affect up to one in ten households in the UK. Since then, she has grown a team of experts who have trained police, social workers, teachers and many other professionals to better recognise the signs of CPA, support parents, and signpost to specialist organisations. In addition, Michelle set up a range of parent-focused initiatives including daily practitioner-led online sessions, a Facebook peer support group which now has 3,300 members, and one-to-one offerings for those at highest risk. PEGS launched a CPA Covenant for employers in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions, only the fourth such covenant to be backed by the Government, and Michelle has advised everyone from the Home Office to Channel 4 and the BBC on CPA – the latter for storyline on Hollyoaks and EastEnders. Her work has seen CPA covered by journalists across television news programmes, national newspapers and magazine, and regional press and radio, and she’s received numerous awards both in the UK and internationally. Michelle, whose MBE was awarded for Family Support and Advocacy, said: “This honour is also shared with the parents who have trusted me along the way: they drive me, inspire me and I will always stand with them. “I feel proud, privileged and very grateful – and I’d like to thank everyone who has supported me and PEGS along the way. There is much more to come for PEGS, and we will continue to work every day for the parents and carers who have been or continue to be impacted by CPA. “There is so much to reflect on from the journey of the last six years, and there have been many highlights and challenges along the way. I am sure there will be many more in the future – although being told I’d received an MBE will always remain a truly incredible moment that I’ll remember forever!” For more information about us, visit www.pegsupport.co.uk or search for 'PEGS' on social media!