About Home-Start Dover District

What is Home-Start?

Home-Start is one of the leading family support charities in the UK. Home-Start Dover District has been providing support to families in the Dover District for over 25 years. We are part of a National Organisation and are governed by Home-Start UK.

Home-Start volunteers help families with young children deal with the challenges they face. We support parents as they learn to cope, improve their confidence and build better lives for their children.

Our support for families

Across all four nations of the United Kingdom 10,000 home-visiting volunteers support around 27,000 families and 56,000 children to transform their lives. There are 180 local, independent Home-Starts. At the heart of each Home-Start’s work is home visiting volunteer support.

How can Home-Start help?

Many parents feel exhausted and overwhelmed by the stresses of family life, when they are trying to manage their own mental health and the emotional needs of their child. It is even more difficult if family or friends are unable to offer you support and breathing space when you most need it. Some parents lose confidence in their ability to cope and most can remember days when they would have liked someone to turn to.

A Home-Start volunteer will visit you regularly (usually once a week for a couple of hours) in your home and offer support to enable you to manage your health and that of your child’s. A volunteer will visit for up to 6 months, and you can decide when you want the volunteer to visit. You can choose whether or not you want to accept Home-Start support as our volunteers only visit at the invitation of the family.

Who can Home-Start help?

We offer support to families where there are parental mental health issues, where parents are experiencing stress, anxiety, depression, loneliness and isolation. We support children where there are children’s behaviour and emotional health issues. We can support children who have a diagnosis or Autism Spectrum Condition, or waiting for a diagnosis.

Who are our volunteers?

They come from many different backgrounds and ages but all are either parents or have some parenting experience and are carefully selected for their friendliness and understanding. All volunteers have attended a course of preparation before being linked with families. They visit one or more families a week and take their own individual skills and experiences to the families they visit. They are not paid for their work and will not replace a Health Visitor or Social Worker.

Volunteers are carefully matched to a family based on their own life skills and personality. Volunteers will accept you and will not judge you and just offer you friendship and support, so please feel relaxed about their visits. If you are reading this because you are interested in becoming a volunteer then please see our volunteer’s page.

What to do next

To find out if Home-Start Dover District can help, you can contact us directly by using the contact details as displayed on this web page or talk to your Health Visitor, Social Worker, Early Help Staff, your local Children’ Centre Staff or any relevant Professional who is working with you and they will be able to make a referral on your behalf. Alternatively, you can contact us direct on 01304 242314 and refer yourself for support.

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