Early Days Magazine and Training & Recruitment Bulletin
Early Days Magazine and Training & Recruitment Bulletin
Early Days Magazine and Training & Recruitment Bulletin
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Providing extra support to families in<br />
the South of Luton<br />
The Mayor congratulates the first group of Home-<br />
Start Volunteers on completion of their training<br />
course.<br />
This group of volunteers will be matched to families<br />
with young children who are experiencing some sort<br />
of crisis in their lives.<br />
Home-Start works with families in times of distress,<br />
making them strong again <strong>and</strong> preventing a crisis.<br />
In an ideal world Home-Start wouldn’t be needed<br />
but for many parents the pressures of family life are<br />
simply too much to cope with alone. There are so<br />
many reasons for this including poverty, illness, family<br />
breakdowns, isolation, physical <strong>and</strong> mental health<br />
issues.<br />
This is where Home-Start steps in by recruiting <strong>and</strong><br />
training parent volunteers to offer emotional <strong>and</strong><br />
practical support to families in their own homes.<br />
One mum supported by Home-Start said: “I’ve found<br />
Home-Start fantastic, I can’t fault the support. I think<br />
if I hadn’t had the support I’d be completely lost.<br />
Having Jane has given me the extra confidence with<br />
my parenting <strong>and</strong> I’m surprised how much easier<br />
things are now.”<br />
Volunteering for Home-Start is a rewarding<br />
experience <strong>and</strong> all volunteers complete an extensive<br />
training course before they are matched to their first<br />
family. Home-Start also offers ongoing training <strong>and</strong><br />
support to all volunteers. One Home-Start volunteer<br />
said: “To volunteer for Home-Start <strong>and</strong> to help get a<br />
family back on their feet is a wonderful experience.”<br />
Cherry continued: “Volunteers support families for<br />
2-3 hours each week. We provide a training course<br />
for 8 weeks, one day a week, which is fun, informal<br />
<strong>and</strong> informative. Each volunteer must complete their<br />
training before they are matched to their first family.<br />
The next course will be in the spring. Volunteers<br />
find supporting families extremely rewarding, but<br />
also say that volunteering helps improve their own<br />
self-esteem, <strong>and</strong> enhances their own personal <strong>and</strong><br />
professional skills. We are working closely with<br />
the Children’s Centres to offer families the most<br />
appropriate support to meet their needs.”<br />
The charity is one of over 300 local Home-Starts<br />
that are spread right across the UK <strong>and</strong> forms part<br />
of the UK’s leading family support charity. Cherry Le<br />
Roy, coordinator at a local Home-Start said: “We are<br />
extending our family support service in Luton <strong>and</strong><br />
urgently need volunteers. The more volunteers we<br />
have, the more families we can help.”<br />
Attending the launch, Mayor of Luton Cllr Sheila<br />
Roden said: “It’s great to be at the launch of Home-<br />
Start in Luton <strong>and</strong> to meet the volunteers. Home-<br />
Start have a marvellous reputation for the work that<br />
they do with children <strong>and</strong> families. It’s really good to<br />
see them here in Luton.”<br />
This project is funded by ABC <strong>and</strong> Hatters Children’s<br />
Centres.<br />
If you think you could support Home-Start, have parenting experience <strong>and</strong> would like to help a local<br />
family please contact:<br />
Email: office@homestartcentralbeds.org.uk or call 01582 66 00 61.<br />
4 Family Information Service: 4 01582 54 88 88 Ñ fis@luton.gov.uk www.luton.gov.uk/fis
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