Peer Support Volunteer - PAIRS service

Posted for Family Lives

This is an exciting opportunity to volunteer in our new Perinatal and Parent-Infant Relationship Support service in West Northamptonshire. We are looking to engage local people who are passionate about supporting families in their community.

As a Peer Support Volunteer, you’ll be part of a small team making a big difference to the lives of new and expectant parents in West Northamptonshire, offering a friendly face and a listening ear to help families thrive.

As a Peer Support Volunteer, you will help new and expectant parents by:   

• Reducing isolation   
• Supporting mental health and wellbeing   
• Increasing parents’ self-confidence   
• Promoting a positive relationship between parents and their baby   
• Supporting parents to get out of the house and to appointments   
• Providing information and signposting to other support services

You will help parents to improve their own lives and support them to create positive environments for themselves and their children.

Why volunteer with us?     

• We provide full training and ongoing support   
• Opportunities for further training and development 
• An opportunity to gain new skills   
• Meet new people and make a difference in your community 
• Expenses reimbursed   
• Flexible hours

We have gained the Investing in Volunteers quality standard for good practice in volunteer management.

Family Lives was formed over forty years ago by volunteers, with the aim of ensuring that all parents had somewhere to turn before they reached crisis point. We know that the right support at the right time makes all the difference.

Our vision: Families should have access to active support and understanding.  

Our mission: We build better family lives together.

Our values: We value being compassionate, collaborative and trustworthy

Skills

We are looking for individuals who:     

• Have experience of parenting and/or a caring role or demonstrable experience of work with parents or children eg. in       their work, previous volunteering or a previous role     
• Are good listeners and have an ability to empathise with all parents regardless of race, gender, age, religion or belief, nationality, marital status, sexual orientation, or disability.   
• Can demonstrate a willingness to question their own attitudes e.g., toward different forms of parenting     
• Can remain open minded and non-judgemental     
• Are willing to use IT skills as part of the necessary record-keeping and communication for the project. Training will be given to support this.    
• Are willing to commit to work within Family Lives’ policies, in particular our Confidentiality Policy and Risk of Harm Procedures, ensuring that Family Lives can keep the volunteer and families using the service, safe always
• Are willing to commit to attending regular one to one and support sessions with their mentor.     
• Are able to work individually as well as part of a team.   
• Are prepared to travel to local venues and events.   
• Are willing to commit to undertake Family Lives peer support training.   
• Willing to give a minimum of 6 months commitment to the project.

Details

Location

This opportunity is available Countywide.

When do I need to be available?

Availability Details

We are looking for volunteers who can commit to at least 4 hours per week. Exact days/hours can be discussed based on volunteer availability and the availability of families needing support.