Home-Start London is a network of 16 local Home-Start charities across the capital, each with its own team of dedicated staff and volunteers providing vital family support services that are tailored to the needs of the community. We recently spoke with Guljabeen Rahman, the Chief Executive Officer of Home-Start Barnet, Brent, and Harrow, to find out more about her role and the work they do.

Can you give us a snapshot of Home-Start Barnet, Brent and Harrow?
We support over 500 families across the three boroughs every year through a range of services, including home-visiting, play groups, parenting programmes, and summer activities. Our services extend to new and expecting mums and dads, and families with older children with very complex or challenging circumstances. Every family is unique, so we make sure that we listen to parents and to children and together we shape the support they receive.

We were originally set up in Barnet nearly 30 years ago, and that’s where we have our deepest roots. Over the past decade, we’ve extended our work into Harrow and then Brent because there was a gap in local services, and no other charity offered the same highly flexible, holistic support that we do for families with young children.

Our greatest successes are down to our amazing team of volunteers, who walk alongside families through some of their most challenging times. Families tell us that their volunteers are a lifeline, they offer the empathy and compassion that only someone with lived experience can. We help families overcome isolation, build new connections and access local services so that their children can thrive.

Describe your role in three words:
Creative, demanding, and multifaceted!

Why did you join Home-Start?
I joined Home-Start in my current role when my children were three years old. Financial pressures meant I had gone back work when they were only a few months old which had left me feeling very guilty and that I was failing them in every way. I remember feeling isolated and totally out of my depth. I certainly didn’t join Home-Start because I had any of the answers, far from it! I joined because I felt to my core the pain of other parents who were struggling. I didn’t want any mother to feel the way I did or to think they weren’t good enough. I wanted to make a difference.

What is a typical day for you?
Every day is different because the role is so varied! My role is to make sure we deliver the best services to the families that we support. I work with my team to develop and evolve our services, and to find funding to pay for them. I look for opportunities to work in partnership with other groups and charities so that we can have greatest impact. I also seek creative solutions to the different challenges you face when running a local charity. On paper, I have a strategic role but in reality I also need to be very hands-on and get involved with operational tasks from designing flyers to recruit new volunteers to assembling flatpack furniture with my team!

What is the most rewarding part of your role?
It’s always the family stories that give me the strength to work a few hours longer than I should! For example, there is a young mum and baby we’ve been supporting in Brent who was new to the country and abandoned by her husband as soon as she became pregnant. She was living in temporary housing with no recourse to funds. We were able to match her with one of our Coordinators and a volunteer who spoke the same language, she attended our Bump to Baby group for new parents, got access to her local food bank and services she needed. Recently, her residency status was confirmed and she moved to a new borough. She was so scared because she had to start all over, but we were able to help settle her in and get back on her feet. Today I heard that this mum is really thriving and feels part of her new community. We can now step away with confidence knowing that she is much more resilient and better able to look after her baby’s needs. Together, we did that!

Looking ahead, what are your hopes for the future in the work you are doing?
I recognise that I come from a place of privilege. Despite my identity as an Autistic, ADHD mum of neurodivergent twins, being of Muslim and Pakistani heritage and arriving in the UK in my teens, I had lots of opportunities and resources that so many parents don’t. It doesn’t seem fair. I’m incredibly passionate about creating a Home-Start service that is there for parents and children when they need us most and is inclusive, accessible and representative of the families we work with. My family is a little obsessed with Wicked at the moment. But I stand by Elphaba, and in the words our favourite green character, “everyone deserves a chance to fly”.

What would you like people to do after reading this interview?
It takes a village to raise a child. But with all the changes in society and the significant difficulties many families are facing, we need to redefine what that village looks like. I’d like people to take a minute to ask themselves if they can be part of someone’s village.  Could you volunteer and be that lifeline for a local family in their toughest times? Just a few hours a week can be the difference that helps give a child the best start in life. Don’t underestimate the power of volunteering!

Find out more about volunteering with Home-Start here.