Group support volunteer

Home-Start Glasgow North
VO100346

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.

Experience required

No formal qualifications required. Ideally parenting or childcare experience but not essential. More important is a friendly manner, empathy, good listening skills and a non-judgemental attitude.