A CHARITY that helps families through some of their toughest times has marked one of its busiest ever years.

Pewsey-based Home-Start Kennet supports families in danger of collapsing under everyday pressures through its dedicated band of volunteers who are assigned to support and encourage them.

It began serving Marlborough more than 30 years ago but has been gradually forced by demand to extend its work to Devizes, Tidworth, Calne and Chippenham, plus dozens of villages in between.

It has 30 volunteers on its books but has launched a recruitment drive to find more.

Scheme manager Tania Rackham, who has been with the charity for two years, says: “We train volunteers who go out to families with young children who are struggling for a huge range of reasons for two to three hours a week and they give them support in the home for as long as it is needed. It is normally six months, building up their strength, confidence and resilience.

“There are many challenges that we help them with, it could be multiple births, there’s a lot of mental health, isolation, bereavement or debt. It could be single mums or families, it might be older mums. We help people from all walks of life, there is no typical case.”

The charity helped 98 families with 198 children through volunteer visits in 2018/19, plus another 20 families at drop-in sessions. Of all those families helped, 35 per cent suffered mental health issues and 27 per cent had multiple issues.

“Poverty is a big factor,” says Family Support Organiser Edwina Astle. “It’s usually a lot of issues we deal with and one sets off another.”

Cuts in social services and the return of many more service families to Wiltshire in areas like Tidworth means demand is increasing all the time but resources are tight. “There are families that we work with now who would previously have been supported by statutory services,” she says.

Home-Start receives no funding whatsoever from Wiltshire Council or any other local authority and relies on fundraising from organisations such as the Wiltshire Community Foundation, which awarded it £10,000 over two years this year. “We know the demand is there in places like Trowbridge and Swindon but the finances are just not there says Tania.

“We have a lot of families who come to us directly which is brilliant because it shows that people are starting to know that we are there. But sometimes it is really difficult to ask for help so families will be introduced by health visitors, by children’s centres or the Army Welfare Service, it’s a real range. We want to get to know about them as soon as possible so that we are there before things start to arise and before they become more difficult.”

The first contact with an FSO who will establish their need. They are then carefully matched with an available volunteer who the group feels they will best identify with.

The work volunteers do may not seem particularly life-changing from the outside. It could be as simple as watching a severely disabled child while their exhausted mum has a bath or tidies up – or goes with them to a health appointment.

“It doesn’t sound like a big thing but to the family it is huge,” says Edwina.

Volunteers tailor their support to the situation and set goals so that when the contact is over, their charges are in a better, stronger place. This is not easy work and volunteers undergo an intense seven-week training course that teaches them how to listen, the boundaries to observe and the ongoing support available to direct them to.

The charity runs regular courses for new volunteers. Says Edwina: “It’s the best part of 40 hours face to face training, which is pretty unique for a volunteer role.”

“It covers the core skills a volunteer would need, including a big focus on safeguarding,” adds Tanya. “There’s also a lot of emphasis on how we all work together because what we don’t want is any volunteers to feel they aren’t supported and they are on their own with a family.”

Once they are trained, volunteers are closely supported with a six-weekly meeting, as well as regular contact. “It’s a triangular relationship with us, the family and the volunteer,” says Edwina.

All of the charity’s volunteers are women but Tania hopes to change that. “We would like men to volunteer. For some families, there isn’t a positive male role model and we also help single dads too,” she says. “There’s also the opportunity to get involved with more practical volunteering like fundraising, helping at events.”

Wherever they come from, new volunteers are vital to helping the charity keep up with demand. “We want to get help to families as soon as possible so we need a bigger pool of volunteers. Having a wider range of skills will help us make a better match,” says Tania.

Home-Start Kennet is part of the Home-Start network and has a sister organisation in south Wiltshire. To find out more about the charity and its services, and how to volunteer, go to homestartkennet.co.uk.