any body have any experience/knowledge of surestart/homestart??

[tiredemma]

i want to do some voluntary work with the above programmes in order to gain some kind of experience which may stand me in good stead for a place studying midwifery at uni, if successful, id like to work predominently in more deprived areas with high teenage bith rates, drug addicted mothers etc, have found some stuff on the net but wondered if any mums had any experience in surestart/homestart, i think it would be good for me to gain some experience in this field but dont want to seem like a "martyr" if you know what i mean.

Hi Emma, I had some ladies from Homestart visit me after I had Ds and had been reffered to a psychiatrist.
They came round and had a chat and arranged for a volunteer to visit me. TBH I wasn't very keen and once i'd met the volunteer i decided to leave it.
The volunteer was nice but she didn't seem to be that good with the kids and she had got to travel quite far to get too me.

I think it's a great idea though. I would have loved you as my volunteer

We have a Homestart lady as I have an autistic son and a 2 year old girl. She is absolutely lovely. The kids both like her. We go swimming with the 2 hours a week we have and I enjoy her company too. It is a really worthwhile voluntary job. From what I can see the Homestart managers are careful to place their volunteers with appropriate families. I'd definately recommond it.

Good luck.

thanks for replying ladies, im going to contact them and see if thay have any volunteer posts, cant really explain why i think its better to do this sort of volunteer work, i just think it will give me better skills rather than just working in a care home or something like that.

are you still thinking about going to college this sept nutty? we will finally meet again if you are!

Have the forms Emma, just haven't got around to filling them in yet.

Tiredemma, I used to live in a Surestart area in London. Was FABULOUS when I had ds as had all the facilities and classes on tap, for free. Didn't realise until I moved out of town quite how much it had given me in terms of making a circle of friends, always having somewhere to go with ds... don't know quite how the volunteers would work (wasn't aware of any at the baby massage class/baby PEEP class I used to go to and you'd be very limited in what you could do at the creche, I would imagine) but am a huge fan.
Don't know if this is true everywhere (maybe London's unusual) but I think what I hadn't expected was such a huge variety of people. When the HV first mentioned SS, I'm ashamed to say, I thought 'isn't that just for deprived areas' ie not people who can afford to pay for things like baby massage classes. If you did volunteer through their London schemes you would meet parents and children from every background, every religion/culture, every different family set-up. And we all learned so much from one another. It is FAB.

edam, the area where i have just moved from is a surestart area which is why im interested in it, my HV sold it to me, i too thought about it as just for deprived kids but i think its an excellent idea to bring families together and share experiences etc, every body needs help when they have little ones!!

nutty, get on with it girl!!

I became a homestart volunteer almost two years ago and now work for them. the training is fantastic and they are a very well respected organisation. It would be fantastic experience for anyone wishing to pursue a career in any of the caring proffessions. As someone said earlier they take a lot of time matching families with a volunteer. This time taken is for the benefit of both the fanily and the volunteer.

It isn't just for people from deprived backgrounds either, although of course they doi figure highly. I wa assigned a volunteer when my daughter was very young when I ad post natal depression and was ggoing through a bitter break up.

I live in a 'deprived' area and our local Surestart has received a large ammount of funding to help turn this around. I've been a 'member' since DD's birth (everyone's given an application form as soon as they're assigned a HV). It's fantastic! I volunteer with them now following completion of a breastfeeding course, I'm part of a group helping to set up better facilities in the area, and better support for breastfeeding mums and their families. One friend who did the course following me has been accepted on a midwifery course, funnily enough - as you mention a similar interest. She's sure her involvement with Surestart and peer counsellor training have helped her gain her place! In fact, myself and DH see the services and support systems as so valuable that we specifically bought our home recently in our local Surestart area so that our children and ourselves could continue to benefit and enjoy taking part . If there is a Surestart running in your area, it might be worth finding out if you can attend a meeting. We have them monthly here, and local parent members are always welcome to attend along with all the other agencies involved and linked with Surestart - it could be a good way of finding out what it's all about.

thanks everyone, your advice has been really helpful, im going to contact surestart tomorrow.