Home-Start » Volunteering
Volunteering for Home-Start Kirklees
If you are thinking of volunteering for Home-Start – please read on! Our service is offered by volunteers and without people like you, there would be no Home-Start!
Who are our volunteers?
In Kirklees we have 70 volunteers, of all ages, and from all walks of life, supporting families in every area.
Volunteers understand the stresses and strains of bringing up children. They are not childcare ‘experts’ and they do not judge, pry, or tell people what to do – they simply offer families a listening ear and a helping hand.
What do they do to help?
Volunteers offer around 3 hours a week to visit a family in their own home. They may go out with the family – perhaps shopping, a trip to the park, or a visit to the Health Centre. Sometimes a parent just needs a friend to talk to, or another pair of hands to help with the little ones.
Volunteers are not childminders or home-helps!
As a volunteer, you choose which family to visit, and are introduced to your family by a Home-Start co-ordinator, who has already been to see the family and knows the sort of help they need.
Who do they help?
Families may be finding life difficult because a parent or child has an illness or disability; or they may be very young parents with no extended family to turn to. Sometimes we offer support to Mums who have had to move area because of domestic violence, or families struggling to cope with a multiple birth or many small children.
We hear about families from health visitors, social workers and teachers, as well as from families themselves. Clearly, we only work with families who want our help, and are happy to accept a visitor to their home. Our help is confidential, available to all families within Kirklees who have at least one pre-school child.
I want to volunteer. What do I do now?
Contact us at Home-Start Kirklees. One of our friendly co-ordinators will come and visit you at home to explain more about volunteering with us.
We offer a 30-hour course of preparation to each prospective volunteer, which runs for one day a week for six weeks. Courses run throughout the year and are offered at various venues in north and south Kirklees.
Courses are informal and fun! They are a way to get to know other prospective volunteers and make friends.
If I become a volunteer, what support will there be for me?
We take support of our volunteers very seriously. You will have your own named co-ordinator who will keep in touch with you, and check how your visits to your family are going.
They will also invite you to the activities we have on offer – for instance, training events, Christmas and Eid parties, and fun activity days.
They will make sure you are not out of pocket when visiting your family, and they will offer you regular, formal supervision to make sure that your support needs are being met.
Volunteers also receive a monthly newsletter.
I can’t make a commitment to help a family once a week. Is there any other way I could offer my help to Home-Start?
Yes! You could volunteer to help with one of our family groups, or with events to raise funds for the scheme.
Volunteers are also represented on our Management Board, and have an important part to play in the running of the scheme. If you are interested in this aspect of our work, please contact Theresa, our Senior Co-ordinator.