Volunteering

A Breastfeeding Peer Support Volunteer is a mother who is breastfeeding or was recently breastfeeding, who supports other mums to help them keep breastfeeding for longer. It's a great way to gain confidence, support other mums, and improve your communication skills.

What does a Breastfeeding Peer Support Volunteer do?

• Run BABES breastfeeding support groups alongside staff
• Offer information and support to breastfeeding mums within a group setting
• Offer telephone support to breastfeeding mums

What skills and experience do Breastfeeding Peer Support Volunteers need?

A peer supporter has to be breastfeeding or have recently breastfed. They should be able to get along with people.

What training is there?

There are ten weeks of breastfeeding peer support training, plus five weeks of core volunteer training.

How many hours per week?

Up to 2 hours a week.

An Early Years Volunteer leads on volunteer-led sessions for all families with children aged under five years, such as Stay and Play, and Under 1s groups.

This is a great opportunity to increase your confidence and gain experience of running play sessions. It's also possible to use your volunteering to gain a qualification.

What does an Early Years Volunteer do?

• Helps plan and set up sessions.
• Spends time in sessions interacting with children and talking to parents.
• Helps to clear up at the end of sessions.
• Leads and supports on Talking Walks, modelling strategies that support children’s communication and language development.

What skills and experience does an Early Years Volunteer need?

An Early Years Volunteer needs to like being with children and parents.

What training is there?

There are five weeks of core volunteer training. Each volunteer will also have a mentor.

How many hours per week?

Up to 2 hours a week.

An Admin Volunteer answers the telephone, covers reception, does typing and other office roles. This is a great way to improve your administrative skills, with the possibility of gaining a qualification.

What does an Admin Volunteer do?

• Support Reception at busy periods in the Centre.
• Meet and greet families
• Filing, pulling together evaluation packs, answering the phone, photocopying group resources (for targeted interventions)

What skills and experience does an Admin Volunteer need?

The ability to communicate well and organisational skills.

What training is there?

There are five weeks of core volunteer training. Admin staff will also support and supervise you.

How many hours per week?

Between 2-4 hours a week.

PHEW (Parents Health and Emotional Wellbeing) Group Volunteers

A PHEW Group Volunteer works with a Children’s Centre staff member to run a small support group specifically for families who are finding being a parent difficult, or who may be feeling anxious, have low mood or be feeling lonely. 

This group is open to families with children aged under 5, with many of them having little ones aged under one.

What does a PHEW Group volunteer do:

Helps deliver activities based on mindfulness, stress relief and coping strategies, to help families improve their own emotional health and wellbeing, build confidence and make friends. 

What skills and experience does a PHEW Group volunteer need?

You’ll need to like being with families with young children, be friendly and able to give a listening ear.

What training is there?  

There are 5 weeks core volunteer training and 2 additional weeks focused on emotional health and wellbeing.

How many hours per week?

Up to 2 hours per week.

A EPEC (Empowering Parents Empowering Communities) Parent Group Leader Volunteer uses the skills and knowledge they have as a parent to deliver sessions to groups of other parents. 

What does a EPEC Parent Group Leader Volunteer do?

• Deliver group sessions to parents
• Organise refreshments
• Manage the register
• Set the room up
• Distribute course materials

What skills and experience do EPEC Parent Group Leader Volunteers need?

• Need to be a parent yourself
• Enthusiastic, warm and non-judgemental
• Be confident, with good organisational skills
• Willing to undertake 10 weeks of training, then apply knowledge and skills to run the group.

What training is there?

A 10 week EPEC training programme

How many hours per week?

5 hours a week, once or twice a year