Meet the core staff of Home-Start West Somerset!
Clare
Manager/Senior Family Support Coordinator
I have been manager/senior coordinator of Home-Start West Somerset for 6 years; I initially came from a family support role working for Somerset County Council but before that I had a self-catering business. I have raised my own family of 3 children in West Somerset so I’m completely aware of the delights and downsides of living in a rural area. I like playing tennis, walking the dogs, gardening, and holidays!
I count myself as being so lucky to have such a great job, there are some difficult parts to the role, consistently finding funding and re-writing policies, but those bits are completely overshadowed as I feel the job and the charity really does what it sets out to do, it’s simple and effective; helping families in a very caring and genuine manner, achieving some wonderful outcomes. My job is made so much easier by the fantastic team of staff, trustees, volunteers, and many others behind the scenes who all pull together to provide a faithful service to families.
Sue
Administrator
I am the administrator for Home-Start West Somerset and currently work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings and have been in post for nearly three years. This is an extremely interesting and varied role in which I offer support to the team and trustees as well as being responsible for keeping our lovely volunteers up to date with information.
As first point of contact to the office both by telephone and visitors I also enjoy the interaction this offers with professionals and families alike.
Every day brings new challenges, but I love the variety and that we are a close-knit team who all work hard to support families with young children in need across West Somerset.
Karin
Financial Administrator
I am the financial administrator for Home-Start West Somerset. I have worked for the scheme since July 2018.
My responsibilities are to provide financial administrative support to the employees of the scheme and Board of Trustees as appropriate and agreed.
I feel we have the most amazing team. Without the dedication of our staff, trustees and volunteers our scheme would not exist and families across West Somerset would not get the support they need.
Carol
Family Support Coordinator
I’ve worked with Home-Start West Somerset since April 2017 and have worked with families and children since 2001 when I started my career in Early Years. I still can’t believe how lucky I am to work for such an amazing charity. I love working with families, whether it’s one to one or within a group. My experiences of working in and running pre-schools has given me a sound understanding of how children develop, why they behave they way they do and how joyful it is to spend time with a small person exploring the world.
I use this knowledge to develop and deliver projects to support families with children in the Early Years. It is a privilege to work with the families of West Somerset and to get to know the fabulous people who support Home-Start, whether they are volunteers, trustees, fundraisers…. The list goes on. My circle of friends has widened so much since I came to work here!
Home-Start West Somerset has given me the opportunity to get to know this area of Somerset and the people who live here. This is a beautiful place and the people are pretty cool too!
Clary
Bump-Start Coordinator
I am one of the coordinators for Home-Start West Somerset, I have worked for the organisation since January 2019 but actually started out as a volunteer, which I loved, this also helped me to support the volunteers and families that I now work with.
My role has consisted of coordinating volunteers and providing them with support to allow them to support, engage and provide friendship with families across West Somerset for a variety of reasons.
Recently I have trained to become a Real Birth and HypnoBirthing educator, this has allowed Home-Start as an organisation to develop the support we provide across pregnancy and beyond and has meant that my role has now changed to Bump-Start coordinator. I feel very privileged to be able to use my new skills to empower expectant parents, providing information and enabling choice and a positive experience.
I also enjoy the work I carry out across our website and social media platforms with lots of help from the rest of the team. It’s great fun playing with design and getting our support and positive message out to so many more people.
I love working for Home-Start West Somerset, we have a great core team of staff, but also an integral wider community of Trustees, volunteers and families which makes every day dynamic, fun and exciting.
Debbie
Bump-Start Team Leader
I am the Bump Start team leader for Home Start West Somerset. I have been in this role, for two years, since returning to work in 2018. Before this, I was lucky to be a stay at home mum and before that I was a nurse.
My job involves helping to support expectant parents and their families enabling them to access services across West Somerset and providing friendship and encouragement along their antenatal journey!
I recently trained as a Real Birth Teacher and I also have qualifications in Massage Therapy and Reflexology which I am keen to develop further for mums and dads.
The Bump Start project is about encouragement, enabling parents-to-be to have the information and skills they need to make the right choices for their growing family.