WHO WE ARE

Our story

Yeovil4Family was initially a family support project set up in response to the fact that some families in our community are in need of additional support. Y4F was set up by churches in Yeovil who have a heart to see the tide of family breakdown turn in our town, to see children who are loved and cared for prosper and family relationships that are constructive instead of destructive and damaging.

Y4F is hosted by Yeovil Community Church, who in 2012 were awarded the contract to work alongside South Somerset Together, which is a partnership between the local council and key agencies to improve the quality of life in South Somerset. Our role was to deliver the ‘Family Focus’ support programme by providing Family Link Workers and Volunteer Family Mentors, (if appropriate) to work alongside isolated families in South Somerset and has worked with approximately 143 families up to end of April 2015. This work has seen Y4F play a key part in the local council’s response to the national government initiative to positively impact families with complex needs in Britain (the DCLG Troubled Families Agenda).

From 2015 we became independently funding and have extended our remit to work with people without children. In the last year we have also included a homeless outreach worker to engage with rough sleepers and people who are socially isolated.

Since the start of the programme we have supported more than a thousand clients in the SSDC community.

WHAT WE DO

Helping families to help themselves

Our volunteer Family Mentors provide one-to-one listening support in the home for one hour a week. We are here to ‘help families to help themselves’. To do this Mentors are trained to work with the family by listening to them in a non-judgemental way and helping them gain the support they need to make changes, find solutions to their challenges and bring new hope into their lives.
Our Mentors are supported by a team of Family Link Workers who are responsible for coordinating services between all the agencies involved, the mentor and most importantly the family themselves. It is our hope we can help be the families’ voice amongst the agencies so they can regain control over their own lives and feel empowered and equipped to move forward.

Yeovil4Family work with all types of clients regardless of faith, gender, race, disability, marital status, social class, age or sexual preference. All people come in different shapes and sizes, with different experiences, achievements and struggles.

VIDEOS

OUR TEAM

Team members

Vicki Pritchard – Joint Program Lead

Joella Summers – Joint Program Lead

Bridget Turner – Community Outreach Worker

Sue Pocock – Senior Resettlement Link Worker

Jess Fleetwood – Y4F Team Administrator

Catherine Bramley – Admin Support

Andrew Dunningham – Y4F Mentor Programme Administrator

Family Link Workers

  • Anne Barclay
  • Becca Crombie
  • Esther Dobbs
  • Lorrainne Gill
  • Cath Hine
  • Hannah Jeffery
  • Ingrid Lucas
  • Sarah Maunder
  • Amy Merrett
  • Jon Pugsley
  • Gemma Roberts
  • Joanne Triffitt
  • Sue Whitlock

And our network of amazing Volunteers who help to provide our mentoring service…

GET INVOLVED

Become a Mentor

Do you have a heart to help people in need of support?
Could you spare a couple of hours a week?

They offer one-to-one support for people in the home and are a positive role model to everyone. They help the client to help themselves by supporting them to achieve small steps that help them lead to long term change.

Being a volunteer Family Mentor takes approximately two hours each week; one hour with the client you have been matched with and an hour with your Link Worker. You must be able to commit to being part of the programme for a minimum of 12 months.

Family Mentors need to be good listeners, who can encourage and be non-judgmental. Mentors currently range from ages 25 – 70+ years, and are able to understand the stresses of life.

All our Mentors complete a 12 hour training course. These can be daytime or evening and are group based, interactive sessions.

You will be supported and supervised by a Link Worker who is a member of our team responsible for the client you have been matched with. They are there to assist and safeguard you and to ensure you have all you need to fulfil your role.

Prayer Support

As we continue with this work we greatly appreciate the prayer support we receive. It is really encouraging to know that people in our town have a heart for the people who make up our community.

We would love for prayers to continue for:

  • The people we work with

  • The mentors who give up their time to help
  • The other organisations and agencies we work with
  • For more people to step forward and volunteer to be Mentors

GET IN TOUCH

Information for Agencies

Yeovil4Family are an ‘Additional Need’ service. We are happy to consider a range of referrals. In particular, we work where there are physical or Mental Health needs; education and/or behavioural needs; families that are lonely or feel isolated; people needing support around worklessness.

Clients must be open to engaging and actively participating with support from a Link Worker and volunteer Mentor.

If the client is suitable and lives in the South Somerset area you can make referral by completing an online referral form below.
It is really important that you complete the form fully with as much information as possible, so that we can consider the referral carefully.

We will contact you to discuss the referral and once we have agreed to take on a referral, we ask referrers to introduce us to the client, as we believe this enables us to build up stronger relationships.

If you have any questions related to making a referral to us, we’d love to hear from you. Tel: 01935 530050 Email: info@yeovil4family.org.uk

Referral forms (on-line)

General Enquiries

EMAIL

  • To Email us, click here.

POST

  • Yeovil4Family
    The GateWay
    Addlewell Lane
    Yeovil
    BA20 1QN

PHONE

  • 01935 530050

Referrals

EMAIL

POST

  • Referrals
    Yeovil4Family
    The GateWay
    Addlewell Lane
    Yeovil
    BA20 1QN

Note: Please mark all correspondence “Private and Confidential”