Following a complicated situation in her personal life, Jemima found herself a single mum to twin girls. She was referred to Home-Start from a family hub. The twins were just one years old when Karen, their Home-Start volunteer went above and beyond to pick up the pieces.  

“I’d had a difficult start with both children when I found myself as a single parent. I never expected that, my ex-partner was my everything, he was all I knew so everything changed, I was devastated. Social services were involved for a while, and my life was up in the air. My mum, dad and nan were all poorly when I started getting support. Add to that court hearings with my ex-partner and keeping two twins alive - it was a lot to juggle.

My depression and anxiety was really bad. I also have borderline personality disorder and I’d just been diagnosed with ADHD. Life was changing so quick and my needs were constantly shifting but my volunteer Karen made sure we had regular contact and was able to adapt the support she gave me and my family.

I was referred to Home-Start from the family hub. At first, I was dreading it. I didn’t want anyone else in my house. I’d had so many different people from Social Services come and go. But Cesca the Home-Start Family Support Worker was amazing. She was the first person who helped me before being matched with my volunteer Karen who started to re-build my life.

I was matched with Karen, my volunteer. I’ll be honest, I was worried at first as she was older, I thought she might judge me and my situation. But Karen wasn’t judgemental at all. We clicked straight away, in a way that I haven’t with anyone else. Karen is really easy to open up to, she’d say things like ‘I know you said you’re feeling fine, but how are you actually feeling?’ She really helped me with my mental health. We’d just go for a walk and just chat.

She was lovely, she met me at my pace and was really understanding if I was having a bad mental health day or if the children were poorly. It was hard at first for the twins to warm to Karen, but very quickly it turned to ‘Auntie Karen is coming today’. They love her! Cesca also continued to help me, she was coming round helping me with court stuff. It was a really emotional time.

Financially, Home-Start helped with so much, like finding free legal advice, applying for childcare funding, and advice around child maintenance. This help took a load off my mind whilst everything was going on. Having someone there to talk to, someone who understood me, made all the difference. That meant more than anything.

I lived with my parents at first but then I was able to get a house. It’s my first house and I was so lost with all the different things to set up and pay for. Karen helped me read through letters when I didn’t understand. She helped me set up things that I was entitled to as a single parent. I didn’t know the first thing about setting up my utility bills, etc, but she supported me, she even helped me find deals to save money.

When I first moved house, I didn’t have anyone. I didn’t know anyone. I remember sitting in my house thinking, ‘what have I done? I’ve moved far away from everyone.’ I felt isolated. It’s always hard getting out with two young kids, especially when I needed to take a bus. At first, I kept myself to myself, but that meant the kids didn’t go out much. There are lots of parks nearby which I wasn’t aware of at the time, Karen showed me those and gave me the confidence to go.

Karen had a way about her, people always spoke to her when we were out together, which often led to me making friends at the park, friends I still see now.

Last year in the run-up to Christmas, I’d been in my house six months, and I was starting to feel the financial stresses and pressure that Christmas can bring. It’s so hard to manage everything at once. I couldn’t afford to take my kids out to places, but Home-Start treated us to a few trips, we went to a Christmas market and a farm, the kids loved it. Without Karen or Cesca, I wouldn’t be able to do anything like that. It took a weight off that I could go out with Karen and not need to spend anything.

Cesca even came round with two big bags of toys, which were brilliant, they were educational too. I was also given an Asda voucher which meant I could buy everything for a Christmas meal. It was the first time my family and my partner’s family were all together, and I cooked for everyone, which was lovely. My local Home-Start had a small food bank, and they brought round some food parcels, which really helped top up food shops too.

Thankfully, things are much easier for me now. Karen went above and beyond for me. She was a school teacher, she has so many skills. She helped with so many things that made a big difference, like embedding routines for the girls, teaching them new things, she helped with meals and getting the children to eat healthy meals.

Karen also encouraged me to do some courses once the girls went to nursery. To date, I’ve done a Children’s Mental Health course and Autism levels 1, 2 and 3, and I’m hoping to become a Social Worker when the children go to school. I couldn’t have done this without Karen.