Home Visiting
At Home-Start we understand that being a parent can be lonely, challenging and sometimes overwhelming. We want to ensure families have support at the earliest opportunity to help them feel confident and enjoy family life.
All parents struggle at one time or another. Any family can experience difficulties and that is why Home-Start is ready to support families through their toughest times.
Home-Start volunteers and staff support families with individual one-to-one home-visiting and a wide range of targeted support for parents and their children.
We work with families experiencing a range of challenges including isolation/loneliness, poor mental/physical health, post-natal depression, financial worries and multiple birth, giving practical help and emotional support.
We recruit and train volunteers who then visit families at home for a couple of hours each week. Volunteers take time to get to know parents and their children and help to build trust and confidence.
A Home-Start volunteer is a helping hand and a listening ear. Their time with the family could include:
- Talking and listening
- Having fun with children
- Supporting families to get out and about
- Practical help
“Since having Home-Start in my life and having the support of one of their volunteers she has given me peace and helped me feel worthy of being a Mum again. They helped me emotionally and been there to reassure me of any of my doubts about being the mom I am to my son. My son was very nervous in the beginning and struggled to connect with people he didn’t know. My volunteer helped him to trust again in people. She helped by playing with him and reading with him this helped him to come out of his shell more and start to trust again. This meant I could put him in to nursery because he has come on leaps and bounds. Yes, Home-Start is about what’s best for the kids but they do more than that. They taught me how to trust and faith again. Just having that interaction once, a week has helped me to be happier for my son. I’m truly grateful for their care and support and treating me with compassion and care with no judgment.”