Meet our team and volunteer with us today

Home-Start Lorn - Supporting families with young children throughout Oban, outlying villages and North Argyll since 1988 and on the Isles of Mull and Iona since 2012.

Mark Feinmann Chairman and trustee Home-Start Lorn

I have been chairman of the board of trustees for more than three years and have found the responsibilities of the role challenging but enjoyable. Now retired and with a background in managing health and social work services in Glasgow, I have been able to use my skills to help expand the service. We recently established a new service in Helensburgh and continue the good work of Home-Start that has been available in Oban for more than 30 years. The role of a chairperson consists of a variety of tasks including developing a strategic plan in which we review what we have done in the past year, listening to the families and communities we support and the agencies and funders which make it possible for us to provide a service, consider all of their input and develop a plan for the coming year. I help to guide our board of trustees to make sure the service we offer is fit for purpose and meets the standards set by Home-Start UK. Our service relies on charitable donations so value for money is important and as chairman keeping an eye on the finance is a major part of my responsibility. I have found the responsibilities of chairman have given me a clear identity and role in my retirement, helping me to transition from the world of work. I see the role of chairman as carrying a baton which I will pass on to someone else, as so many have done before us.

Rebecca Family Co-ordinator

I love my role as family co-ordinator on Mull as it is such a versatile job - no week is the same. One of the main parts of my role is overseeing our volunteer support service which means checking in on our families and their volunteers to ensure they are receiving and providing the right amount of support for their individual needs. I also directly provide support for two families on the island which usually entails taking the babies out for a wander to allow their mums to have a break and some time for themselves. As a parent of young children myself, I have always seen the importance of group work for new parents and their babies and toddlers. We have been working really hard, as a service, to provide a range of groups for families on the island. Last week, I was covered head to toe in rainbow jelly, colourful spaghetti, cornflakes and oats for a messy play we ran in Tobermory. Messy play is just one of the groups we provide on Mull. We also do sensory plays, bookbugs, family days out and weekly Bumps & Babies groups. There is nothing I love more than watching wee ones

Christine Home-visiting Volunteer

play in a safe environment, while their parents and carers watch on having a cuppa while sharing stories about the ups and downs of life with children. The reason I decided to volunteer was that I had recently retired and wanted to do something which would give back to the community. Life is difficult at the moment, particularly for families with young children, so volunteering for Home-Start allows me to support families in a variety of ways. People ask – what do I enjoy about volunteering? To put it simply – it’s a most rewarding experience. For nearly two years I’ve been supporting a single parent with twins. During my period of involvement, mum has moved from what she described as a ‘very dark place’ where she felt socially isolated and was struggling to cope alone with two new babies, to becoming a confident young woman with improved self-esteem, excellent parenting skills and the ability to see a brighter future for herself and her children. Mum has achieved this through her own determination but is quick to point out that the one-to-one support and regular involvement in the Home-Start groups has helped her achieve this change.

When life becomes more challenging and day to day help and care is required, many of us would prefer to stay in the comfort of our own homes or in an environment that feels like home. Thankfully, there is a vast network of council, private and charitable health care services offering care support to make sure that happens.

Everyone’s circumstances are different, be they frail, elderly, sick, convalescing, recuperating from injury or facing life-limiting injuries or illness.

Nothing beats the feeling of being in your own home with family and friends around you. Care in the community enables that to happen, whether you are living on your own, have a loved-one helping care for you or if your need for care is short-term or longer. Having tea in your favourite mug or the cat curled up on the bottom of the bed can make all the difference.

Step number one is to contact the social care department of your local council to find out what you are entitled to. The council helps you and/or the person you care for find the right care package so that you/they can live at home as independently as possible.

Each care package should be unique, designed to the individual person’s needs and in consultation with your GP. This help might include regular visits from a home care worker and social care, health and housing teams to provide help with things like general cleaning, heavy housework and gardening, shopping, personal care, meals on wheels or a frozen meal delivery service and if required adapting your home or providing equipment and home improvements.

A little bit of timely help can make all the difference. For family and friends that are offering support to a loved one, they should also apply for a carer’s assessment to discover what help they might need.

UNPAID CARERS

The role of looking after someone physically can be a full-time job or impact heavily on the carer’s life and health. So many people perform this vital job for friends and family even while holding down a job of their own.

There are an estimated 800,000 unpaid carers in Scotland, including 30,000 young carers under the age of 18. The value of unpaid care provided by carers in Scotland is £12.8 billion per year. Three out of five of us will become carers at some stage in our lives and 1 in 10 of us is already fulfilling some sort of caring role*

In the face of these figures, The Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 put in place a system of carers’ rights designed to listen to carers, make support more consistent between areas and to prevent problems, helping to protect carers’ health and wellbeing.

This need to provide unpaid care can have a heavy financial impact on life as well and the

Three out of five of us will become carers at some stage in our lives and 1 in 10 of us is already fulfilling some sort of caring role. CARERS TRUST SCOTLAND

government recognises this with the establishment and funding of the Carer Positive accreditation scheme to recognise employers who provide a supportive working environment for those balancing caring and employment.

Carers Trust Scotland is the largest provider of comprehensive carers support services in Scotland. It reaches around 30,000 adult carers and 2,400 young carers from all groups and communities through its unique network of independent carers’ centres and young carers services throughout Scotland.

There are carers’ centres in Argyll and Bute run by charitable organisations including North Argyll Carers Centre, Oban; Crossroads North Argyll, Oban; Dochas, Lochgilphead, for Mid Argyll, Kintyre, Islay, Jura and Gigha and Crossroads, Cowal and Bute.

YOUNG CARERS

Childhood for some also includes helping to care for a parent alongside schoolwork and playing out, developing their own social life and just growing up in general.