Home-Visiting Family Support Volunteer - Hounslow Borough

At the moment, we are particularly looking for volunteers from Hounslow Borough as demand has risen significantly in the last few months.

We provide a vital lifeline for local families with children under five. At the heart of our local charity are the parent volunteers who give their time to help other parents who are struggling to cope. They support them to manage their own issues as well as helping their pre-school children to be ready for nursery and school.

We are offering a free course to train you to be a home-visiting volunteer, supporting families with difficulties such as post-natal illness, bereavement or disability. N.B. We do not support families with extremely high levels of need e.g. on-going domestic abuse or child abuse (they are referred on to specialist support).

Upcoming Course Dates:

• Start Date: 25th September 2025 (6 week course, every Thursday)

• Timings: 9:45 am - 2:30 pm

• Location: Vestry House, 21 Paradise Road,  Richmond, TW9 1SA

• Session Dates: 25th September, 2nd, 9th , 16th and 23rd October and 6th November

Last year we helped 286 vulnerable families and 476 children in the boroughs of Hounslow, Richmond and Kingston; most being referred by Health Visitors and other professionals. Our trained volunteers support parents with difficulties such as mental health, family breakdown, domestic abuse, bereavement, disability or a combination of factors that can affect their children’s welfare. We have supported over 3000 local families since 1995. Our volunteers receive on-going support, supervision and training.

Please call us if you would like any more information on 020 8487 8500 or visit www.homestart-rkh.org.uk .

What skills do I need?

A Home-Start volunteer should:

• Be a parent or have parenting experience (or similar)
• Understand why families may need support from Home-Start
• Have a knowledge of child development or willingness to undertake training
• Have a positive, non-judgemental attitude to working with people of any gender, family status or sexual identity, or who are from any ethnic origin, culture or religion, or who may have a disability
• Demonstrate a sensitive and caring attitude towards others
• Have a clear understanding of the confidential nature of the Home-Start service, and not to break confidences shared by the family, other than when disclosure is essential in order to protect the wellbeing or safety of a child
• Have time and enthusiasm for Home-Start, be reliable and understand the importance of reliability to the family
• Have good communication skills including an ability to listen
• Have a warm and open personality and a sense of humour
• Be able to operate as a member of a team

Be prepared to:

• Complete the Home-Start preparation training course
• Attend group support meetings and ongoing or refresher training required by the charity
• Attend supervision with their co-ordinator every six weeks
• Keep records as required by the charity

Applications from all parts of the community are welcome and a second language can often be very useful.

When do I need to be available?

	Morning	Afternoon	Evening
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday

Details

Training Course: 9.45am-2.30pm, on Thursdays from 25th September to 6th November (not 30th October-Half term) After training: you would visit a family for 2-3 hours a week, at time and day to suit you, (not weekends). We ask that volunteers stay with us for 1 year +