Volunteer Service
Welcome to the Family Friends volunteer service. We can provide a volunteer to support your family through a difficult time. The support we offer varies according to each family, as we try to meet individual needs. The type of support we offer is listed below but you are very welcome to ring us and see if we can help.
At times, many of us can feel overwhelmed or isolated by our situation. Our volunteers understand these difficulties and aim to help you through these.
Who is the support for?
We support families that have children under thirteen and are experiencing some sort of difficulty that makes it hard for them to cope without extra support. For example:
- Sickness or disability in children or parents
- Stress
- Depression, including post-natal illness
- Isolation or loneliness
- Difficulty in coping
- Loss or bereavement
You can contact us directly or some families are referred to us by social workers, health visitors or teachers. We only work with families who would like us to support them – it is completely up to you.
In order to help give you a picture of what we do, please click here to read some examples.
What do the volunteers do?
When a volunteer is matched with a family, the support could include some of the following:
- Practical help with the children – playing with them, taking them out (with the parent’s consent), helping at meal times etc.
- Practical help for the parents – this could include helping to fill in forms, helping with motivation around things such as parenting or housework.
- Emotional support – spending time with the family, befriending them, listening.
- Helping people access more specialist support such as counselling.
- Helping people to feel less lonely by supporting them to join local groups, make friends or find out about things such as adult learning courses or returning to work.
- Encouraging families to spend time together and help parents enjoy spending time with their children.
How often do the volunteers visit?
The support is usually a visit once a week for six weeks. Each visit lasts up to two hours. The service is very flexible; we aim to tailor the support to meet each family’s needs, where possible. We have volunteers who are available in the daytime, evenings and weekends. After six weeks, the support is reviewed by the Volunteer Co-ordinator and family so we can decide together whether further support is needed.
How do I access the service?
You just need to contact us at the office
What happens next?
- The Volunteer Co-ordinator will arrange to visit you at home
- We can chat about the service, what we can offer and what you feel you need.
- The Volunteer Co-ordinator will do her very best to match the right volunteer.
- The Volunteer Co-ordinator will then arrange a time to introduce a volunteer to you. You and the volunteer will get a chance to talk about the support and get to know each other.
- If everyone is happy to go ahead, then a date will be arranged for the volunteer to make his/ her first visit.
- After the first visit, we will contact you to find out how things have gone.
Have other families found the help useful?
Yes, they have! Families who have used our service have found it to be really helpful. Many families find having someone come and visit them once a week helps relieve the pressure and gives them something positive to look forward to. Click here to read about what people say.
About the volunteers
We have a team of skilled and experienced volunteers from a wide range of backgrounds. All volunteers have on-going training and have been police and reference checked.