Home-Start Glasgow North and North Lanarkshire has a great opportunity for people who have experience parenting or working with children and families! Our volunteers provide practical and emotional support to families with children under the age of 5 who are experiencing difficulties. Home-Start Volunteers are often parents themselves or have experience of the challenges of young family life. They choose to share their time, friendship, skills and experience because they understand the demands and stresses on young families. We match each family with the right volunteer for them and the volunteer commits to support 2-3 hours per week. Families can find it hard to cope for all different reasons - illness or disability, postnatal health, lack of family support, past addictions or asylum seeking families new to the country. Volunteers support parents as they learn to cope, improve their confidence and build better lives for themselves and their children. Simple things help families move on and become more resilient - a listening ear, getting out of the house, joining groups, a cuppa and a chat, friendship and fun. Home-Start Glasgow North was founded in 2001 and expanded in 2017 to include the satellite office in North Lanarkshire. For many years, we've worked across communities to provide support for families with young children who are facing difficulties. We have long-term experience in family support and are established as one of the leading charities working in this field in the community. Our impact within the local communities we serve is far reaching, aiding reduction in solation and loneliness, improving mental health of adults and children, improving educational attainment, building healthy relationships, supporting more nurturing environments and improving the wellbeing of parents with, or at risk of, mental ill health during the perinatal period (during pregnancy and until infant reaches one year old). With our focus on empowerment and resilience, we assist families to become self-reliant, confident and connected. Volunteers join us for many reasons, but all share the same motivation - the desire to help others. No special qualifications are necessary to volunteer with Home-Start but Family Support Volunteers must be a parent, have parenting experience, or have experience working with children and families. Family Support Volunteers will be matched with a family and will then offer support by visiting them at home, in the community (pre-Covid times) or connecting by phone and online video chat (post-Covid) each week. We expect the type of support Family Support Volunteers may provide to include: helping families to engage in play with children, supporting larger families to have more time with individual children, supporting families to engage in new activities or providing practical support to families at home. All volunteers are given a FREE 5 session training course to ensure that they are fully prepared and confident in the role. Courses are run 4 times throughout the year - next course starts week in April. Participants will learn about health and wellbeing, child development, attachment, child protection, community projects and a number of key areas of our specific services. We are looking for family support volunteers to support families in the home and out in the community 2-3 hours during the working week, the time is flexible to suit your availability. We select, train and support volunteers who: •Offer support, friendship, and practical assistance •Provide encouragement of parents’ strengths and emotional well-being for the ultimate benefit of the children •Encourage families to widen their network of relationships and to use the support and services available within the community effectively. All volunteers undergo an enhanced criminal records check, at no cost to volunteers. If you're interested, please click the ‘apply’ button below (available when logged in and registered). You will then be contacted by the coordinator by email or phone call. If you have not heard back after 5 working days, the first step is to contact the organisation with the contact details provided. You could also check your junk/spam folder on your emails just in case the response is there. If that doesn’t work out then please feel free to contact Volunteer Glasgow on info@volunteerglasgow.org.

Home-Start Glasgow North and North Lanarkshire has a great opportunity for people who have experience parenting or working with children and families! Our volunteers provide practical and emotional support to families with children under the age of 5 who are experiencing difficulties. Group support volunteers help out at our family, baby and toddler groups on a weekly or fortnightly basis. They also help out at our holiday programming. As a group support volunteer you will help the group worker to set up group activities and snacks, be a welcoming face to families attending groups and engage with families by playing with babies/toddlers and chatting with parents. We ask Group Support volunteers to commit to: - complete training - attend group as requested by the Group Worker (this may be for 1-2 hrs a week) - support Group Worker with activities for the session - support families to participate in group activities - adhere to Home-Start’s policies and boundaries set out by Group Worker - commit to the duration of a block of group (10 weeks) A Home-Start volunteer should: - Have an interest in supporting families with young children - Have a positive attitude to working with people of any gender, family status, sexual identity, ethnic origin,culture, religion or who may have a disability - Demonstrate a sensitive and caring attitude towards others - Have a non-judgmental attitude - Understand the importance of respecting confidentiality, but be able to decide when disclosure of a confidence is essential to the well-being of a child - Be reliable - Have good communication skills, including an ability to listen - Have a warm and open personality and a sense of humour - Have time and enthusiasm for Home-Start - Be able to work as a member of a team - Be prepared to keep records as requested by the scheme Home-Start Glasgow North was founded in 2001 and expanded in 2017 to include the satellite office in North Lanarkshire. For many years, we've worked across communities to provide support for families with young children who are facing difficulties. We have long-term experience in family support and are established as one of the leading charities working in this field in the community. Our impact within the local communities we serve is far reaching, aiding reduction in solation and loneliness, improving mental health of adults and children, improving educational attainment, building healthy relationships, supporting more nurturing environments and improving the wellbeing of parents with, or at risk of, mental ill health during the perinatal period (during pregnancy and until infant reaches one year old). With our focus on empowerment and resilience, we assist families to become self-reliant, confident and connected. Volunteers are regularly invited to ongoing developmental training opportunities. These run outside of the 1-3 hours of weekly family support or group support. These are often information workshops from services and supports available in the community, as well as courses applicable to the role. In the past these have included workshops and trainings on keeping energy costs low, signposting families to benefits and supports, gender violence, first aid, Book Bug in the home, perinatal mental health and trauma informed parenting. Additional trainings and events are not mandatory but these are a great way for volunteers to catch up with the rest of the Home-Start “family”, so please aim to get involved in them if possible. All volunteers undergo an enhanced criminal records check, at no cost to volunteers. If you're interested, please click the ‘apply’ button below (available when logged in and registered). You will then be contacted by the coordinator by email or phone call. If you have not heard back after 5 working days, the first step is to contact the organisation with the contact details provided. You could also check your junk/spam folder on your emails just in case the response is there. If that doesn’t work out then please feel free to contact Volunteer Glasgow on info@volunteerglasgow.org.