Become a Home Visiting Volunteer and Make a Difference

Home Visiting Volunteers come from many different backgrounds and vary in age but all are either parents themselves or have parenting experience and are carefully selected for their friendliness and understanding.  They provide informal, friendly emotional support and practical help to families.

All our home visiting volunteers attend a preparation course, undergo an enhanced DBS check and provide two references before being matched with a family who they will visit once a week, for approximately 2-3 hours.

Being a parent isn’t easy and sometimes life gets in the way.  The volunteer’s support is tailored to the needs of the family, and help parents improve their confidence and build better lives for their children. Volunteers work alongside parents to help them cope with the stresses and strains of life and make sure they have the skills, time and strength they need to nurture their children.

Volunteers take their own individual skills and experience to the families they visit. Talking and listening can empower families to overcome their difficult situations. Visits might include holding the baby while mum has a shower, playing with twin toddlers while mum has a sleep, taking parents shopping and showing them how to budget, being a listening ear to relieve isolation, modelling positive parenting and play.

• You must be a parent or have parenting experience
• As a Home-Start volunteer you will support a family by visiting them at home for around two to three hours once a week
• You should be able to commit at least one year of your time to Home-Start
• You should have a non-judgmental attitude and understand about the pressures of bringing up a family
• Be able to attend our free Volunteer Preparation Course with other new volunteers
• Have an understanding of and abide by our Confidentiality and Safeguarding policies
• Be able to undergo an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check

Volunteers are the heart of Home-Start Guildford. In joining our dedicated and friendly team, you will:

• take part in our free preparation training course
• meet other likeminded people
• meet regularly with, and be supported by, one of our co-ordinators
• have access to training activities including specialist speakers
• be invited to volunteer social events (including a free Christmas Lunch event)
• receive regular updates and newsletters
• be able to claim travel expenses when visiting a family

The Volunteer Preparation Course:

We aim to run 2 free preparation courses a year, one in spring and another in the autumn. It consists of six 4.5 hour sessions, held on a Wednesday morning at our offices in Burpham.

The course covers all aspects of volunteering for us such as Confidentiality, Safeguarding, Communication Skills, Positive Parenting and Boundaries.

We run two volunteers training courses a year. If you’re interested in finding out more, you can contact the office on 01483 811151 or email office@hsguildford.org.uk or you can complete an expression of interest form: https://forms.office.com/e/8qtsSk0SzU

Next: Family Groups