Aldershot, Farnborough, Fleet, Odiham and surrounding areas
Sign up as a volunteer to help families with children in your local community!
Home-Start is a local charity supporting parents who are going through challenging times. Family Support Volunteers offer regular support, befriending and help to families under stress either in their own homes or at family groups, helping to prevent family crisis and breakdown.
Families may need a little extra support for a multitude of reasons – a parent or child may have an illness, post-natal depression, family bereavement, spouse in the army, multiple births or disabilities.
Once fully trained our volunteers are matched with a family, or more, if appropriate and visit them in their home for 2 to 3 hours a week (at a mutually convenient time) usually for a period of around 6 to 9 months, providing support, most often in the form of practical and emotional support and reassurance. Volunteers can also help with our family support groups instead of home-visiting if they prefer.
Training
A flexible, eLearning preparation course is provided for new volunteers that can be completed in your own time with ongoing support that is readily on hand with our Family Co-ordinators.
Volunteers must be 18+
Develop skills and knowledge of family support to help build your CV
Skills
- Be a parent, have parenting experience or experience of working with children.
- Have a positive attitude to working with people of any gender, family status or sexual identity, or who are from any ethnic origin, culture, religion, or who may have a disability.
- Demonstrate a sensitive and caring attitude towards others.
- Have a non-judgmental attitude.
- Be clear about confidentiality and when a confidence remains so but be able to take action when disclosure of a confidence is essential to the well-being of a child.
- Be reliable and understand the importance of reliability to families.
- Have good communication skills including an ability to listen.
- Understand the need for support.
- Have a warm and open personality and a sense of humour.
- Have time and enthusiasm for Home-Start.
- Be able to commit for at least 12 months following preparation training.
- Be able to work as a member of a team.
- Be prepared to keep and submit records as requested by the scheme.
If you are interested in volunteering opportunities or would like more information, please email familysupport@hshants.org.uk or call 0330 124 2095
