Julie shares her story of Home-Start and why she became a volunteer.

The toughest time in Julie’s life was more than ten years ago, but it comes back to her with uncomfortable clarity. Trapped at home with two young children by depression and anxiety, she was caught in a downward spiral that could only have ended badly for her or the children.

 “I do feel like this charity saved my life,” she says. “I know that sounds dramatic, but it is true, they saved me. I had two older children who ended up living with their dad and then got married again and had a three-year-old and a one-year-old,” she recalls. “I just thought I had done it all before with the older ones so it would be easy, but I got depression and anxiety, and I just couldn’t cope. I wouldn’t go out, I wouldn’t socialise. I was taking the three-year-old to playschool but that was about it. Along came my volunteer, Dawn. She came for a few weeks just for a coffee and to play with my youngest. Once she got to know us, she got us going to the Children’s Centre.”

Just getting Julie to the Centre was an achievement, but the volunteer’s skill and patience helped her go further. Recalls Julie: “To begin with she would walk with me to the centre and then after a while she’d say, ‘I’ll meet you there’ and then one day she said ‘I’ll be about half an hour late’ so I had to walk in on my own and it worked. I made friends and started going on my own. At first when Dawn started coming, I felt like a bit of a failure, but when I realised it was doing the children good and that it was actually nice to get out there and meet people it made me feel really motivated.”

 Julie’s confidence grew and when Home-Start support ended, Julie was in a much better place. Fast forward a few years and Julie began to think about Home-Start again and the impact it had on her. “I wanted to give something back,” she says. “Home-Start really helped me, and I wanted to help someone else. I’d not worked for 19 years and saw volunteering as a step to getting some paid work. A year on, I actually think I’m getting as much out of it as the family I visit. I come away from there and I am buzzing. A year ago, I wouldn’t have driven but this has empowered me.”

 Since joining as a volunteer in 2019, Julie has supported many families. As an ex-beneficiary Julie’s insight and understanding is particularly valuable. “Julie is super friendly, very kind, has a kind heart and is empathetic. She’s also a very good listener” (Family Support Organiser).