Home Visiting Volunteers

Our History:

Home-Start Trafford began in 1999, extending its geographical reach into Salford in 2012 and then officially expanding further into Wigan and Leigh in 2019.  Although part of a national network of Home-Starts, overseen by Home-Start UK, Home-Start Trafford, Salford and Wigan is a locally run voluntary organisation operating as an independent Charitable Company, strategically managed by a Board of Trustees made up of local professional volunteers.

At the heart of our charity is the belief that parents have a key role in creating a secure and happy environment for their children. Sometimes parents need a bit of help, which is where Home-Start comes in. Our families are regularly visited in their own homes by our trained volunteers; all have had experience of parenting and appreciate how hard it can be. Home-Start Trafford, Salford, Wigan (HSTSW) work closely with existing family services in the Borough of Trafford, Wigan and Leigh and the City of Salford.

Our Partners:

HSTSW work in partnership with the Midwifery team at Salford University to train local volunteers to provide pregnancy and postnatal support to mums to be. HSTSW also works in partnership with clinical teams to offer an enhanced support service focusing on PIMH (Parent Infant Mental Health).

HSTSW supports over 200 families a year, from an army of over 150 local volunteers.

Home-Start Volunteer Preparation Course

Next courses:

• Wednesday 7th and Wednesday 21st September 2022, 9:30 am until 2:45pm,
  The venue for the course is St Matthews Church Hall Stretford (Trafford)
• Tuesday 10th and Tuesday 24th January 2023, 9:30 am until 2:45pm,
  The venue for the course is Salford City Rooster, Moat Hall, Hallworth Road, Eccles M30 7LS

Our course has two objectives:

• To prepare volunteers for anything they may encounter as a home-visiting volunteer
• To help co-ordinators to get to know each volunteer better, essential to enable co-ordinators to make a successful match between family and volunteer.

Our course is designed to be informative and fun as well as to answer any questions you may have. Subjects covered include:

• What it means to be a home-visiting volunteer
• Family life: stresses and strains
• Attitudes and values
• Listening and communicating
• Confidentiality
• Safeguarding children
• Commitment and boundaries
• Support and personal safety

By the end of the course you will have a better insight into the work of Home-Start and feel well prepared for home-visiting.

All expenses incurred both during the preparation course and on home-visiting are reimbursed.

All volunteers can expect the continued support of the Managing Director, Co-ordinators and the Board of Trustees.

We are changing the way we are delivering our volunteer preparation training courses, we have created some e-learning modules that can be done in the comfort of your own home which will enable us to reduce face to face delivery training from 6 days to 2 days or from 10 evenings to 4 evenings.

To apply:

For more information about volunteering with Home Start click here, or if you would like more information about becoming a volunteer, complete our Volunteer Enquiry form

To get the ball rolling, complete our Volunteer Application form.