Home-Start Guildford

Family Support Volunteers for Ash and Ash Vale with Home-Start Guildford

Being a parent is hard for everyone and for some it can be overwhelming.  With your knowledge and experience as a parent, you could be the vital support a family needs in their child’s early years and make a big difference to their lives.

Can you spare 3 - 4 hours per week to help a family with young children?

Our friendly FREE Preparation Course will give you the skills to use your knowledge and experience to go into a family home once a week to give a family the additional support they need to thrive and enjoy family life.

Our 6 session Autumn Prep Course starts on: Wednesday 16th October in Guildford.

For more information, visit our website www.hsguildford.org.uk or fill in the application form and a member of staff will contact you.

"There for parents when they need us most, because childhood can't wait"

Parents Supporting Other Parents - a simple idea that really works!

Home-Start Guildford has been supporting local families across the Guildford Borough for over 25 years. 

We're a non-judgemental organisations that helps local parents who are struggling, for any reason. Some of those reasons may include; multiple births, mental health, an abusive partner, isolation, mental or physical handicap, or the pressure that loss of employment brings to a family.

What we do

Our charity provides a preventative service that aims to support families who are struggling by offering regular volunteer support to parents with at least one child under the age of 5, usually referred to us by Health Visitors.

We provide one-to-one support for parents:
Our volunteers visit the family’s home for a couple of hours every week.  They tailor-make their support to the needs of the parents and children. Volunteers are very committed and will keep visiting until the youngest child turns five or starts school, or until the parents feel they can stand on their own two feet.  Parents and volunteers often develop a deeply trusting relationship which can lead to powerful change within the family.

We also run two family groups for referred families, one in the Pirbright Community Centre and the other in the Guildford Family Group, Hazel Avenue.

Our values

• We offer families choice
• We work in partnership - with each other, with families and with other agencies
• We work in a spirit of openness, encouragement and enjoyment
• We are flexible and responsive to the needs of families

Volunteering Opportunities 

There are several ways that you can help in a voluntary capacity:

• by supporting a family as a Home-Visiting Volunteer
• by helping at one of our Family Groups
• by joining the Trustee Board
• by becoming a Friend of Home-Start Guildford
• by supporting us as a Digital / Office Volunteer

Please see the volunteer roles listed for more detail.