Family Support Volunteer

Who Are We?

We strive to help as many children and families in Sussex as we can, helping them overcome their difficulties, and build strength and confidence.

The Role

We are looking for volunteers to support our practitioners in the local community. This could be from the home, parent/toddler groups as well as our play days and weekend breaks. The above support can be a lifeline for parents as it helps in reducing isolation and enabling peer support, therefore improving mental health and well-being.

This role might include:

• Helping to set up a room at a group.
• Welcoming parents.
• Helping parents play with the children.
• Serving refreshments.
• Tidying up.
• Modelling play in the home.
• Support with form filling or on the telephone.
• Support to access services in the community.

Please note that this role is not suitable for volunteers under the age of 18. Depending on what parts of the role you do, you may need to be wiling to undergo a DBS check.

What skills do I need?

Skills needed:

• Communication skills – not only in communicating with the children, but being able to talk with parents and practitioners. This includes both sharing information clearly and listening to the parents attentively.
• Decision-making skills – good judgment when responding to emergencies or difficult situations.
• Interpersonal skills – you need to work well with people and be able to develop good relationships with parents, children, and other leaders.
• Patience – working with children can be frustrating, so you need to be able to respond to overwhelming and difficult situations calmly.
• Being playful – working with children and understanding how play develops their learning, can require physical stamina and sometimes, if you are able, you’ll need to get down to their level.

Location

This opportunity is available Countywide.