Reservations

Luxury Travel

Reservations

Luxury Travel

A day in the life of...

Vikki Grant, a family support coordinator with Home-Start in Suffolk’s Family Support team.

This is a feature from Issue 13 of Charitable Traveller. Click to read more from this issue.

Home-Start is a network of charities across the UK, supporting families with young children. I’m in Suffolk, and work with families that might be struggling with their mental health or feeling isolated because they’ve moved to a new part of Suffolk and haven’t got a support network. Or perhaps they have a child with additional needs, or they’re struggling with day-to-day parenting and just want someone to listen.

We’re not there to solve all their problems, we’re there to help them identify their own solutions and support them in reaching them.

A typical day

…doesn’t really exist as my role is so broad and I’m always having to think on my feet and problem solve. But it usually starts with a quick online allocation meeting with the other coordinators, where we discuss the new families that have been referred to us and decide which volunteers, we can use to support them.

I’ll then go to meet one of those families to talk through the support they need. Do they need help getting out in the community? Is it about listening ears – somebody to support them emotionally? Or is there practical support around budgeting, cooking, or helping to implement behavioural strategies that we can give? I might signpost some other agencies or professionals to help too, and I’ll also complete a risk assessment to make sure it’s safe for a volunteer to visit the home.

Next, I’ll run one of my two maternity/post-natal groups – West Suffolk Baby Beginnings and Mums in Mind. Baby Beginnings is a stay and play session to help increase new parents’ support networks, and Mums in Mind is a small group programme for mums who are feeling isolated or low in mood. It’s a peer support group and I teach infant massage as part of it, which helps with attachment and bonding with the baby.

I’ll then most likely head to one of the county’s family hubs to catch up the reports I need to write if child protection services are involved with a family, read the volunteer diary sheets, follow up on any signposting I’ve given families, write up records from visits and phone calls, and arrange any volunteer supervision or training.

Throughout the day I’ll also be answering phone calls from the families we look after – perhaps they’re having a bad day because a bill has arrived, they know they won’t be able to pay – and from our team of volunteers, needing to discuss the support we can give.

 

the hardest thing...

…is when a family is really struggling, and the resources just aren’t there to provide the support we know we need to give that family. We feel their frustrations, and it can be really hard.

The best thing..

…is the rewarding feeling I get when I know we’ve supported a family, and when what we’ve done has really helped them. I also enjoy running the groups and the volunteer training and chatting to families in their homes to find ways we can make their lives that little bit easier.

Home-Start
A local community network of trained volunteers and expert support helping families with young children through their challenging times.

charitable.travel/home-start-uk

This is a feature from Issue 13 of Charitable Traveller. Click to read more from this issue.