As a volunteer you enter someone’s home, normally once per week for a couple of hours, and provide support in a number of different ways. This may be helping with practical tasks such as hanging out the laundry or taking the child(ren) to nursery or for just being there as someone to talk to.
Being someone who is not judging nor has any history with the family, but is just there for them and them alone is key to the success of the Home-Start approach. It is centred round what will help that particular family.
I have found that just being there to listen has been invaluable to my families as sometimes these families/mothers are living very isolated lives. The importance of this cannot be over stated. From these one on one visits I have introduced my families other activities on offer from Home-Start such as the weekly family groups which allow parents to meet other parents, find out all sorts of information and providing a safe place for the children to play and meet other children. There are also family days out and events e.g. the Easter Day Out, and summer trip – all of which are funded by Home Start.
I have found working as a volunteer really rewarding. It has certainly been a two way process, with me finding out more about myself, what is important to me and what my values are just as much as finding out ways to help best support a family.
It is a privilege to be able to give something back, no matter how simple or small you may think it is. The impact can be greater than you can imagine This makes the need for funding critical for charities such as Home-Start to continue this good work.
Even more important than the funding is the volunteers, without whom none of this would be possible. I would recommend it to anyone. You never know what you might discover.