Could you spend a couple of hours a week to help your local community?

Home-Start Portsmouth volunteers will usually visit a parent in their home once a week for a couple of hours. How they help is really down to the needs of the family. Some might need a sympathetic ear, a shoulder to cry on, someone to have a laugh with. Others may need help keeping appointments or accessing local services and ‘connecting’ with their local community. Homestart volunteers can provide an extra pair of hands to help people cope with everyday parenting situations, or practical help with activities like playing or reading stories. Home-Start’s approach is very personal and friendly and this often reassures parents that what they’re going through is not unusual, that they are not alone. Could YOU be a Home-Start Volunteer? You don’t need any special qualifications to be a Home-Start volunteer. You just need a good appreciation of how hard it can be to be a parent when children are small, to have 2-3 hours a week to spare, to be open-minded and compassionate and willing to undertake our course of preparation. All volunteers are interviewed in their homes, have a DBS (Disclosure and Baring Service) check and have regular supervision meetings with a co-ordinator. Apply to be a volunteer: apply

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