Volunteer

Could you help families cope with the ups and downs of family life?

Family Lives, a national charity providing parenting and family support, is running a new project in the London Borough of Westminster to support families through befriending support. If you can spend a few hours of your free time each week to get involved in your local community and build a friendship with a parent who is struggling to balance their family life, we really want to hear from you. Often, all people need to solve their problems is a listening ear, some positive support and a boost in confidence. You can help families improve their lives, supporting them to create positive environments for themselves and their children.

3 Aims of Befriending

In 2015:

· We recruited 40 + volunteers

· We offered volunteer support to over 50 families

· 14 of our volunteers found employment

· 10 volunteers enrolled on further / higher education

visit a family to befriend them on a one to one basis in their own home and/ or at Children’s Centres or other public venues
Help the Early Years Practitioners in the drop-in sessions at Children’s Centres
Have an unique opportunity to work alongside Outreach Workers

Our volunteers receive on-going training and support from our dedicated team of staff, who are always on hand to offer guidance.

You don’t need any specific qualifications but you will need to be understanding and resilient. You will also need to have experience of being in a caring or parenting role or have experience of supporting parents or young people. If you are pursuing a professional career in counselling or social work, this opportunity may particularly interest you as it offers hands on experience of working with families. We are particularly interested to hear from parents/carers who speak languages in addition to English and represent Westminster’s rich cultural and religious diversity.

We require all volunteers to give 4 hours a week once trained, for 12 months. Full supervision and ongoing training and development will be provided.

For an application pack or an informal chat contact Senior Volunteer Development Officer Venesha Patel

phone: 07713 708 542

email: Veneshap@familylives.org.uk,

The Volunteer Befriending Project in a Year

In 2015:

· We recruited 40 + volunteers

· We offered volunteer support to over 50 families

· 14 of our volunteers found employment

· 10 volunteers enrolled on further / higher education.

Feedback from volunteers:

“Making the smallest change to someone’s life simply by being there and empowering them is so rewarding”

“The training allowed me to look at myself and my prejudices that I have, also it gave me the confidence to learn and take on other courses.”

Feedback from families:

“The volunteer has made a really big difference to me and my family by giving me the time to talk and support me to attend appointments”.

“I feel so much more confident in interacting with my baby and communicating my needs to other professionals in English now”

Volunteer

Volunteers Needed for Family Befriending Project in Westminster

Our befriending volunteers will:

Translate: