Parents of heart children are often best placed to support other parents as they know what you’re going through. We train and support parents to provide emotional and practical help in hospital, on the phone, by email and in the community.

We work with parents who are keen to help others in a similar situation – parents who are a little further along the heart journey and have lots to offer.

Speak to an ECHO parent

If you’d like to speak to an ECHO parent, please contact us and we’ll put you in touch. We’ll get back to you as quickly as possible, but please be aware it can take up to 5 days.

Call us on 020 7998 4710 or email here.

On Facebook

Do you feel like no one understands what you’re going through? We can put you in touch with a community of people who do, and who can offer reassurance and support.

ECHO oversees a private Facebook group for parents and carers of heart children. With over a 1,000 friends, it gives you a safe space to meet other parents and carers online, to ask questions and share thoughts and feelings. The group is monitored by ECHO staff to ensure appropriate use.

• Find out more

Ward visits at Evelina London Children’s Hospital

Our trained parent volunteers visit families on the wards of the Evelina London Children’s Hospital to offer a listening ear, provide practical & emotional support and signpost other help that’s available from ECHO. Our parents visit whenever they can, but if you’d like to request a visit from a parent volunteer please email us. We can’t guarantee a visit, but we’ll do our best to try.

• Email us

ECHO Community Events

We hold in-person and online events offering an opportunity to meet other parents, carers, children and young people in the ECHO heart community. You can see upcoming events on our Events Calendar.

Want to know what else we have planned? Please contact the team and we will be happy to discuss with you.

• Find out more

Connect with heart parents near you

We can help to try and put you in touch with heart parents who live near you or who are living with the same condition. Whilst we can’t always promise there are families nearby, we’ll do our best to find out for you.

• Email us

Support for dads – award winning documentary for fathers

‘Walking in our shoes’ is our award-winning documentary film spanning conversations with fathers, each has a child with a heart condition. This is a poignant film, noting that many fathers feel the need to cope alone and be strong for the rest of their family, through what for most is the hardest experience of their life. But it’s never as simple as just coping, and by opening up about how hard it can be to support your family at a time of crisis like this, they also offer advice and reassurance to fathers who may be experiencing a similar situation. We invite all fathers and male carers to watch this documentary and hope that it offers support at a time when it is needed.

• Watch our film