Humber Family Connections Leaflet

Published: 10 Sep 2026

Publication Date: January 2025

Review Date: January 2027

Humber Family Connections Service

Humber Family Connections Service is an online group programme for supporters of individuals with emotion dysregulation across Hull and East Yorkshire.

What is Family Connections?

Humber Family Connections (HFC) is for those who support someone in their life who experiences emotional dysregulation. They could be a friend, relative or colleague of the person with emotional dysregulation. The online group programme runs for 12 weeks with 2 hour weekly sessions and some homework between sessions. It follows the programme developed by NEA-BPD (National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder) in the United States.

What is Emotion Dysregulation?

Supporters of people who experience some of the following difficulties may benefit from HFC:

Intense and quickly changing emotions
Difficulties with impulsive or extreme anger
Intense or chaotic relationships
Repeated self-harm or suicidal behaviour/thoughts
Making desperate efforts to avoid losing relationships
Impulsive/self-damaging behaviours e.g. alcohol and drug abuse, dangerous sexual relationships, impulsive spending, binge eating

Does the person I support need a diagnosis for me to come to HFC?

You can access HFC regardless of whether the person you support (your ‘supportee’) is under mental health services or not, and regardless of whether they have a diagnosis or not.

Emotion dysregulation can occur in the context of different experiences, diagnoses and presentations; we have worked with supporters of individuals with diagnoses/presentations of Borderline Personality Disorder/Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder, Autism Spectrum Condition, Eating Disorder, and those who have experienced trauma - the main requirement is that you recognise signs of emotion dysregulation in your supportee.

Does my supportee come to HFC?

No - HFC is for supporters only. You can self-refer; your supportee does not need to consent to you attending. If your supportee is under mental health services, your HFC involvement will not be communicated to your supportee or their care team.

Who can come to HFC?

To join a HFC group:

You must be over 18 years of age
You must support someone in a non-professional relationship who experiences emotion dysregulation
Either you or your supportee must live within the Hull or East Riding areas (see our website for a map of these areas)

HFC groups are often most helpful for supporters of supportees who are aged 13+, though if you think HFC could be helpful for you and your supportee is younger than this, please still self-refer and we will discuss with you whether HFC will be appropriate.

How will HFC help me?

HFC focuses on providing educational information about emotion dysregulation, developing skills and strategies to support your wellbeing, that of your supportee, and the relationship between you (e.g. self-care, validation, problem-solving), and putting you in touch with other supporters who often have similar experiences.

Some supporters who have previously completed HFC said…

“Normally, you don’t talk about things because people don’t understand, but in Family Connections I found people who do understand and can relate to my experiences; it was a validating and less isolating experience”

“Family Connections helped me to accept that you can’t always solve a problem…it helped me see that you have to make time for yourself”

“[HFC] gave me a way of trying to support my son in a more helpful way, and has changed how I respond to him…the course helped me see things from his point of view and try to understand what the emotion is behind his actions”

How can I find out more and access HFC?

Information on HFC can be found at https://www.humber.nhs.uk/services/adult-mental-health-services/humber-family-connections/ and you can self-refer by completing the online referral form on the same webpage, and someone will contact you. Alternatively, you can contact us using the details in bold on the reverse of this leaflet under ‘contact us.’