What does a Helpline Volunteer do?

Parents Helpline Volunteers deliver Parents Advice Centre's (PAC) unique Parents Helpline - offering a listening ear, support, and guidance to people facing any kind of family difficulty.

Across Northern Ireland, we deal with approximately 5,000 calls each year. These range from the day-to-day anxieties that every family faces, to more serious concerns for a child’s safety.

The role of the Parents Helpline Volunteer is to support and empower parents and to protect children. They do this by ...

providing person-centred support, information and guidance to people who contact Parents Helpline
accurately and fully completing all necessary records after each contact
being punctual and reliable in fulfilling at least one three hour shift per week
participating in monthly supervision group meetings and ongoing skills development workshops
continually monitoring their own practice, and obtaining guidance and support from their Supervisor, Peer Supervision Group or Director (as appropriate)
working in a respectful and supportive way with staff and volunteer colleagues
complying with all the policies and procedures of PAC, paying particular attention to child protection and confidentiality
contributing to raising awareness of Parents Helpline in the local area.

The Parents Helpline Volunteering Experience

James, a volunteer who joined us this year, has described his Parents Helpline experience,

“Volunteering with Parents Helpline has been such a rewarding experience. The work is very varied and I am constantly learning whilst providing support, guidance and a ‘listening ear’ to the families who contact Parents Helpline.

The accredited training course was invaluable in preparing me for my role and I developed skills that I have been able to apply to my personal and professional life. As a Parents Helpline volunteer I am offered on-going skills development, excellent supervision and have met lots of interesting, friendly people, with the opportunity to participate in a variety of social events.

Being a parent is such an important role for which so many parents feel unprepared and I feel privileged that as a Parents Helpline volunteer I can make a significant difference to a family’s life – I would recommend it to anyone.”