A Day in the Life: Home-Start Manager
Welcome to our ‘Day in the Life’ blog series where we interview a colleague to reflect on their work with Home-Start in London. We recently spoke with Thienhuong Nguyen, Manager at Home-Start Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea, and Hammersmith & Fulham.
Describe your role in three words
Busy, incredible, and inspiring! Busy and incredible because of the range of things we do and the people we meet. Inspiring because hearing parents share their stories every day and seeing their strength and resilience really is very inspiring.
What is a typical day?
A typical day could be meeting a new family for the first time, seeing how we can help support them. It could be going to a housing appointment and waiting there for the next five hours with a mum and her newborn baby. It could be working with my team to develop a bid or review and plan our services. It could be doing lots of back-to-back multi-agency meetings to share the work we do and look at how we can join up with others to support families in different ways. So, it’s very varied!
What is the most rewarding part?
It’s all the different people I get to meet! The children and families that we walk alongside, which is such a privilege. The volunteers that support us, seeing their incredible generosity and compassion for families. The dedicated team that I work with, always striving to do as much as possible for children and families. It’s a very people-oriented job!
Tell me about your volunteers and the role they play
Volunteers are at the heart of Home-Start and the service we offer. We have around 60 volunteers. Each one is unique, and they bring their own personality, experience, and skills. As well as working with families in their homes, we also have volunteers that use their professional skills to help us provide a free therapy service for families. Then there are the volunteers that help us in the office and the volunteers that support our family trips and other group activities. So, you can see, volunteers are a vital part of the work we do.
Looking ahead, what are your hopes for the future?
It’s such a difficult time at the moment. If you’d asked me a year ago, I would have perhaps had different hopes. But now, my hope is that the importance of family support and early intervention is really understood and valued. If more people from across all sectors really understood it then they would invest in it. If we want a society where children thrive and grow up to be happy, healthy adults and where people look after each other, then we must start in the early years.
What would you like people to do after reading this interview?
If you can, ring up your nearest Home-Start and tell them you want to volunteer supporting families! So many families in London are facing difficulties at the moment, we really do need more volunteers. Or perhaps you want to use particular skills that you have to help. You can talk to your local Home-Start about this too. For example, we would love support with our communications. But do make sure you give something, whether it’s your time and skills or your money. Also, if you can, try to make it not just a one-time offer of support but a regular thing. You will change lives forever, I promise.
Find out more about volunteering with with Home-Start in London here.