1. © Strengths in Communities CIC trading as Parents 1st No. 06714737
© Strengths in Communities CIC trading as Parents 1st No

2. We work to support and strengthen voluntary organisations and community action. We work collaboratively, we concentrate on problem-solving and want our work to be practically useful to the voluntary sector, communities and funders.
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3. Celia Suppiah, Jenny McLeish & Dulcie McBride
A Better Start
Rapid Evidence Review
Celia Suppiah, Jenny McLeish & Dulcie McBride
Celia to set the scene

4. How to put it all together and into practice
Formula for success
Dulcie to lead into the framework, our focus for phase 2, what we suggest as ‘the how’ with what we found (so we looked at ‘does it work?’ in phase 1 and then in phase 2 more of a focus on ‘how it works’).

5. Effective intervention
How do volunteer programmes impact on ABS outcomes?
Types of volunteer service design
Principles to underpin all volunteer programmes

6. Main messages
Volunteers can have direct impact on improving ABS outcomes for children
Volunteers can have indirect impact on improving ABS outcomes by creating the conditions for change
Volunteers can reach the parts other services do not reach
Volunteers complement but are not a replacement for professional support
Volunteers benefit too
Over to Jenny
Examples of volunteer projects
Communication & language - Small groups (National Literacy Trust), Home visiting (Community mothers)
Social & emotional development - Small groups (EPEC), Home visiting (Home Start, Volunteering Supporting Families)
Nutrition & obesity - Breastfeeding peer support? Doulas 2.
Changing local ‘culture’: the ‘ripple effect’
Changing the way parents feel about themselves - improved maternal mental health and confidence.
Changing parents’ ability to engage with services.
Changing professionals’ understanding of the communities with which they are working. 3.
Peer support model of empathy and engagement
Volunteers can build a relationship of trust without agendas
Can be successful with families who are:
Poor
From BME communities (but avoid simplistic assumptions)
Asylum seekers and refugees
Without recourse to public funds
Experiencing domestic abuse
Involved with Child Protection 4.
Volunteers are effective when…
Their distinctive non-professional contribution is understood and valued
Their role is to empower the parent with information and support
There are realistic expectations about what they can achieve and the likely timescales
They are supported by local health and social care professionals
Volunteers are not effective when…
They are seen as a cheap replacement for health professionals
They are positioned as expert teachers
They are seen as ‘the answer’ and are rigid, short-term targets which require intensive monitoring and data collection
Professionals ignore or obstruct their activities

7. Parenting & relationships Training
Self-esteem
Support
Improved mental health
Confidence
Supervision
Volunteer
Social network
Education
Making a difference
Knowledge & skills
5. Volunteers benefit too – illustrate via diagram
Employment
Part of a team

8. Different models 1 to 1 support Group facilitation Community champions
Intensity of impact on vulnerable families
Group facilitation
Community champions
Facts from table
Community champions
Large numbers of volunteers
Suitable for volunteers with little time
Limited evidence of impact beyond volunteers
Volunteers leading groups
Parents value social support
May be less ‘socially risky’ than one-to-one support
Good evidence of impact
Vulnerable parents often lack the confidence to attend groups
One-to-one support
Can engage most vulnerable parents
Development of long term support relationships
Reaches more limited numbers of parents
Significant time commitment required of volunteers
Potential numbers reached

9. Indirect impacts on outcomes
Community champion tells parent about free childcare s/he has used
Parent takes up free childcare place
1:1 volunteer offers to go with parent to service
Better outcomes for children
Parent has low self-esteem and poor mental health, and distrusts services
Parent uses services
1:1 volunteer support improves parent’s self-esteem and confidence
Increased attachment and warm parenting

10. Six Principles Strengths based Relationship based Reciprocal
Evidence-based but adaptive
Collaborative
Clear about the parameters
To conclude on the evidence

11. Reciprocal relationships
Volunteers
Co-ordinator
Parents
Goes wrong when professionals:
Feel their jobs are threatened
Feel their professional competency is challenged
Don’t understand the volunteer role
Aren’t confident about the project boundaries
Are unaware of the scope and rigour of volunteer training and supervision
Aren’t able to refer easily
Aren’t aware of the volunteer project
This leads to:
Restrictive gatekeeping
Lack of referrals
Obstruction of volunteer activities
Goes well when professionals:
See the project as a resource
See the volunteers as complementing their work
See volunteers engaging with families who they find ‘hard to reach’
See volunteers supporting families to access services
Develop collegial relationships with volunteers
This happens when :
Professionals are involved from the outset
Professionals are involved on the steering group
Professional are involved in volunteer training
Projects articulate clear boundaries
The project co-ordinator networks extensively
There are simple, clear referral guidelines
The project is co-located with a professional service (but beware!)
Professionals

12. Effective Implementation
Over to Dulcie

13. Competency in Delivery Organisational Ability
Effective implementation
Competency in Delivery
Organisational Ability
Systems Leadership
Co-ordinator with skills and experience
Organisation that understands and can support volunteer programmes
Fully costed & realistic timescale
Supervision of volunteers
‘Just enough’ data collection
Engaged with local professionals
Administration support
Evidence-based but adaptive
Clear about purpose and boundaries
Clear strategies for recruiting and retaining volunteers
Back to those key ingredients

14. Enabling Context

15. Using the framework

16. Panel discussion
Celia Suppiah, Jenny McLeish, Dulcie McBride & Leila Baker

17. Questions for discussion
How could we use these findings to:
Make a difference to (and influence) practice on
the ground?
2. Support Commissioners? Drawing on the
commissioner recommendations in the report, how can we best support them and what might the steps be?
3. Promote sustainable, effective volunteering programmes that operate collaboratively with the wider system of provision?  

18. Thank you.
Read the full report here:
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