Postnatal Companion

Amma Birth Companions
VO104452

Support parents' recovery after birth

Postnatal companions volunteer as part of a team to support and nurture parents’ physical and emotional recovery following birth. You’ll help ensure parents are rested, nourished, and able to bond with and comfortably feed their baby during those crucial early weeks.

Next application deadline: 20 November 2025

You’ll provide emotional and practical support to women and birthing people following birth through a combination of in-person visits, phone support, and outings.

Support is tailored to each client and may include:

Postnatal planning during pregnancy
Helping with infant feeding (breast/chest, formula, combination)
Assisting with shopping and domestic tasks like food preparation
Caring for other children to allow parents to rest or attend to their baby, or caring for the new baby so parents can rest, bathe, or eat
Accompanying parents to medical appointments, birth registration, or baby wellbeing checks
Connecting parents with local parent/baby groups and the Amma Family peer support group
Using interpreters to overcome language barriers
Informing staff when referrals to other agencies are needed
Keeping simple but thorough records in our client database

You’ll work in small teams alongside other volunteers, with support from Amma’s Perinatal Team Leaders.

Is this role right for you?

Before applying to volunteer as a postnatal companion, please consider the following role requirements:

Flexibility - Typically 3-4 visits per family (approximately 10 hours total support), mostly during working hours. Whilst not on-call, some flexibility is needed as babies may arrive early.
Practical support skills - Helping with infant care, domestic tasks like food preparation, and accompanying parents to appointments.
Location &amp; mobility - Visiting homes across Glasgow, including those only accessible by stairs and cramped spaces like hotel rooms.
Training commitment - Approximately 40 hours of in-person training in Glasgow and self-directed online learning
Emotional resilience - Supporting families with trauma histories and complex needs. Supervision and team support are provided.

Recruitment & training dates

We recruit and train new postnatal companions twice per year. Here are the key dates for the January 2026 cohort:

Application deadline: 20 November 2025
Interviews: 17 November&ndash;11 December 2025
Recruitment finalised/all candidates notified: 12 December 2025
Online training: Mid-December 2025&ndash;March 2026
In-person sessions in Glasgow city centre (all mandatory): January 16, 17, 20, 27 / February 3, 10, 24 / March 3, 10, 17, 24, 30

If you are interested, please click the ‘Apply’ button below (available when logged in and registered). You will be contacted by the coordinator by email or phone. If you don’t hear back within 5 working days, please contact the organisation using the provided details. Check your junk/spam folder for responses. If there’s still no response, contact Volunteer Glasgow at [email protected].

Experience required

Strong empathy, compassion, and active listening to support parents emotionally after birth

Knowledge of infant care and feeding (breast/chest, formula, or combination)

Practical support skills – helping with food preparation, household tasks, and childcare

Organised and reliable, with ability to manage visits and maintain clear records

Flexible and adaptable to families’ changing needs and schedules

Emotionally resilient and able to work with families experiencing trauma or compl

Travel details

This role is based throughout Glasgow, usually in clients' homes. Training will be in Glasgow.

Travel expenses

We never want our volunteers to be out of pocket!

We cover:

Travel expenses for training and volunteering (we simply ask that you try to take the least expensive public transport available). If you live outside of Glasgow, please discuss with our Volunteer Manager, Jenny Block.
Computer and/or internet access if you don’t have these at home. This ensures you can complete online training and update your client notes.
If you’re a refugee, in the asylum system, or have no recourse to public funds and have no access to childcare, we can reimburse childcare costs during training but not when you are volunteering.
An Amma phone for each active volunteer. This means you don’t incur mobile expenses and it protects your privacy and boundaries when working with families.

I want to volunteer