Family Mentors* in Southend has been running in partnership with Southend on Sea Borough Council for 12 years, and over this time many volunteers have gone on to work in the health and social care sector after volunteering with the project.
Volunteering to support families with children on the Child Protection Register or Child in Need plans provides deep insight into what families are experiencing. Volunteers help with tasks and skills such as budgeting, healthy eating and shopping, and they are not only a vital support to families, but key in professional development for a volunteer, should they choose to pursue it as a career.
For Volunteers’ Week we asked Engagement Manager Jenna and volunteers Laura and Terry to give us some insight into how volunteering has given them opportunities that have moved them forwards in their career.
*We recently reviewed the name of the Volunteers Supporting Families project, and after consulting with volunteers, funding partners and families involved in the programme, Family Mentors was chosen for our England projects running in Waltham Forest and Greenwich. In Edinburgh this similar project is known now as Family Supporters.