Home visiting volunteer
Be a home-visitor
Where: In your community
Commitment required: 2 hours each week
Training and support provided
About
With your knowledge and experience of the demands of parenting, you could be the vital support a family needs and make a big difference to their lives.
Some of our families may be dealing with a variety of difficulties including isolation, physical and mental health problems, post-natal illness, bereavement, financial worries or relationship difficulties.
Your role will be to support them in the way that they want; this may include practical tasks such as getting out of the house, getting to appointments, or helping to get organised. It could also involve offering advice and sharing experiences; or supporting parents through emotional issues.
Requirements of the role:
Our home-visiting volunteers are required to have:
- An understanding of the issues impacting families
- commit to our training program
- undergo referencing and an enhanced criminal records check
- understand that support provided to families is completely confidential
- have a non-judgemental attitude and understand the many pressures of bringing up a family
Training provided:
Across the U.K. 10,000 Home-Visiting volunteers are required to complete a 6 – 7 week accredited training program to prepare for the role of the Home-Visitor.
It will be an opportunity for you to ask questions and truly understand the importance of your role, whilst also giving the team time to get to know you, so that they can match you with the right family.
Our training is designed by family practitioners and experts in the industry and covers essential information including:
- The role of a Home-Start volunteer
- Values, attitudes, and inclusivity
- Confidentiality
- Listening and communication
- Meeting the needs of families and children
- Safeguarding
- Boundaries and commitment
Support provided:
We invest in our volunteers from day one, ensuring they are supported by a paid member of staff throughout their time volunteering with us through:
- Regular support and supervision sessions
- Paid expenses during training and while you support a family
- Additional training is offered to all volunteers on a regular basis both face to face and through Home-Start’s e-learning platform. Modules include An Introduction to Perinatal Mental Health, Parent-Infant Relationships and Child Development.
- Healthy Happy Home, a volunteer e-learning training program developed with funding from the John Lewis Partnership.