An update from Safe Families Western Isles!

Jo Macleod - Referrals & Administration Coordinator

Firstly, a big hello from myself and our team at Safe Families Western Isles! As the months become colder and more wintery, we hope to add some warmth to your day by sharing positive updates about our service!

Since Safe Families support began in the Western Isles early 2023 (the first franchise of Safe Families UK in a rural setting!), we have been incredibly grateful for our local community supporting the work, including our wonderful partner agencies and amazing local families who have trusted our team and volunteers to support them. You may be wondering what Safe Families support looks like in the Western Isles. I’d be delighted to share with you!

We support Families in Lewis, Harris and Uist who have a child/children ages 3-15. Families may feel isolated and/or overwhelmed with life’s challenges and may benefit from having a friend coming alongside them and help pick them back up e.g. a Parent feeling exhausted managing the needs of their children with other life stresses going on, a family member going through a particularly challenging time with their mental/physical/emotional health, a child who is struggling at school or feeling the challenges their family are facing.

We have an incredible team of volunteers who support our families and have had their own life experiences, great and hard. They are completely non-judgemental, encouraging, trusting and have a heart to help families in any way they can.

Our families get to choose the support they have and how often e.g. weekly, fortnightly etc. Our team and volunteers are there for the family for as long as they feel they need the support, with many families and volunteers remaining friends after Safe Families support ends.

Support from a volunteer comes in three ways which is detailed below, and we have provided examples based on support that’s been provided here locally!   

1.      Family Friend (Comes directly alongside a family):  

-          Volunteers have taken Parents for walks or coffee and cake to help them get out the house and give the Parent a chance to share how they’ve been doing in a safe place, with their Volunteer offering encouragement and advice.

-          Volunteers have gone to the family’s home to catch-up with a Parent if they feel unable to go out and have also offered to do cooking and tidying up with the Parent, going shopping together, or have talked to the Parent on the phone if they’re having a bad day.

-          Volunteers have played with the children at the family home whilst the Parent does another task such as washing, cooking; have taken the children out to go swimming, get a bite to eat, go to the local grounds for adventures and taken children to their own home to do fun activities indoors or play in their garden (additional safety checks are done for volunteers who host at home!).

2.      Host Friends (Host a child/children for a night or two to a couple of weeks, again additional checks done first):

- Volunteers have hosted children for overnight breaks to give the parents a break and allow the parents to spend quality time together (which they were unable to do with caring for their children every night).

- Families have been offered this if going for an overnight appointment or are having a baby and are struggling to find someone to care for their child.

3. Resource Friends (Don’t support a family directly but help with a task or provide a needed item (this support is included along with a Family/Host Friend supporting a family):

-Volunteers have helped paint a bedroom.

-Volunteers have helped tidy a garden by de-weeding, mowing etc.

It has been a huge privilege for our team to see the impact our volunteers have had on their Safe Families Family’s; with many Parents sharing they feel more confident, are able to get out the house more, and more able to face life’s challenges with their SF friend’s support. So far, we have supported over 30 families and continue to support more, which we are always delighted to do!

If you feel our support could be for you or someone you know, please get in touch! This can be through phone, e-mail or our Facebook and Instagram.

We have over 30 volunteers and continue looking for more as our work grows! If you feel you could give time to come alongside a family, please get in touch!

As one family said after support “it could not have been better.” Our hope is that every family we support feels this way!