Glasgow Family Learning Service: supporting families

Published on
12 August 2021

Vikki is a school-based family support worker at our Glasgow Family Learning Service, she talks to us about how her service supports families with their everyday needs.

Tell us a little bit about your role?

"I am a school based family support worker. My role is about offering support to families within the school community, and being available to them. I go to families and see if there is anything I can offer them or signpost them to that would make life better for them or their children."

How would you describe the support you provide to families?

"I would say the support is very tailored and individual and different for each family. When I first started there was a lot more emotional support but since covid it’s been a lot more financial support. Health and wellbeing is still the main priority, but the families I am supporting now need the basics - they need food, they need resources, they need school uniforms and things like that. This has come much more to the fore.

A lot of the children just need one to one support, a space to come. Things are not quite right at home and I offer a safe space they can come to at school where they know there is someone that can be trusted. It is about being an ear for parents too and just being able to listen. It’s a real range of different things."

What would you say is the biggest challenge in your job?

"The biggest challenge for me is creating those trusting relationships and having the time to do that but I feel very privileged because I’m in school all week so I can do that. Other challenges are things like language barriers.  Where I work there are families whose first language isn’t English, which can be hard."

What’s the best bit about your job role?

"The best bit about my job is making a difference, working with a child and seeing them become more confident or seeing a parent that has maybe had anxieties about something that they have overcome or when someone says I’ve only got £2 left on my electricity and being able to help them and give them financial help to top up their electricity meter. Those sorts of things are great.

But for me it’s always about the kids and when you see a child you’ve been working with who has social issues and then you see them out playing in the playground with a group of friends, it’s all about that."

If you could change one thing for Scotland’s families, what would it be?

"I would want all families to have access to someone like me. If everyone could have a family support worker in their school that would be so great because you’ve got school and you’ve got home and when the home needs extra support the school don’t always have the time or the resources to give them that. It’s just really nice when they can come to me and I can support the families and we all pull together to get a good outcome."

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