Home-Start Southport & Formby has been supporting families in North Sefton for 24 years and is rooted in the community we serve. Originally set up by a steering group of health visitors, social workers and members of the community and faith groups, they saw there was a need for early intervention for families with young children in Southport & Formby and we have supported over 3,000 families since 2001.

Home-Start model of home visiting, non-judgemental peer support means we are able to build trusting relationships with families. Engagement with our service is voluntary led by the family’s needs to improve life for the whole family.

Home-Start wants every parent in our community to have the support they need to give their children the best possible start in life. Home-Start offers support, friendship and practical help, for families with young children, to help parents grow in confidence and strengthen their relationships, attachments and bonding with their children, to help them reach their full potential.

Karen Cooke and Julie Cole look after a team of 40 volunteers providing this much-needed support and befriending service to families with children, 0 – 5 years.

Our volunteers are all local people from a wide variety of backgrounds and vary in age and life experience. They are carefully selected for their friendly, compassionate non-judgemental personality’s. They are all DBS approved and attend a course of preparation before being linked to a family. Each volunteer is asked to visit a family once a week, for a couple of hours. Home-Start volunteers work alongside families to give confidential support, tailored to each family.

In addition to home visiting, we provide other support to families. We offer a Counselling service, where our qualified counsellors can offer the time and space to work through difficulties with trust and confidentiality. Our counsellors are members of the BACP (British Institute of Counselling and Psychotherapy)

Parenting can be a lonely job and we believe that families need to meet other families to reduce their isolation so we organise regular Pram Walks, Groups and day trips, where volunteers and staff are on hand to offer additional support to parents if it is needed. Look at our What’s On page for up-to-date details.

We also offer a Re-Use Project, where families can request clothes, nursery equipment, toys and other household items from our stock of donated goods.