Flexible support for families when they need It most

Parent Supporters offer emotional and practical support to our clients during late pregnancy, birth, and/or the early postnatal period. This is our most flexible companionship role — perfect for those with limited availability or less flexible schedules.

Next application deadline: 20 November 2025

About the role

Parent Supporters are trained to provide the same high-quality emotional and practical support as our birth and postnatal companions, but within a more flexible role.

This dynamic role allows you to step in wherever families need help most, whether that’s attending a planned Caesarean birth, making postnatal visits, or accompanying parents to appointments. Rather than being assigned to a specific parent for their entire journey, you will fill critical gaps in support and strengthen our overall companionship services.

Support is tailored to each parent and volunteers’ availability, but may include: 

  • Providing practical support during pregnancy or following birth (e.g., dropping off donated baby items, preparing the home to welcome a new baby, stocking the fridge)
  • Offering emotional support and/or advocacy at antenatal or postnatal appointments
  • Shopping for essential items in an emergency
  • Working as part of a wider support team to ensure clients’ needs are met
  • Using interpreters to overcome language barriers
  • Informing staff when referrals to other agencies are needed
  • Keeping simple but thorough records in our client database

Is this role right for you?

Before applying to volunteer as a parent supporter, please consider the following role requirements:

  • Flexibility - Share your availability and take on tasks that fit your schedule. Minimum 5 hours per month.
  • Practical support focus - Help with specific tasks like dropping off baby items, stocking fridges, attending appointments, shopping for essentials, or preparing homes for new babies.
  • Location & mobility - Visiting homes across Glasgow, including those only accessible by stairs and cramped spaces like hotel rooms.
  • Training commitment - Approximately 40 hours of in-person training in Glasgow and self-directed online learning
  • Emotional resilience - Supporting families with trauma histories and complex needs. Supervision and team support are provided.

Recruitment & training dates

We recruit and train new parent supporters twice per year. Here are the key dates for the January 2026 cohort:

  • Application deadline: 20 November 2025
  • Interviews: 17 November–11 December 2025
  • Recruitment finalised/all candidates notified: 12 December 2025
  • Online training: Mid-December 2025–March 2026
  • In-person sessions in Glasgow city centre (all mandatory): January 16, 17, 20, 27 / February 3, 10, 24 / March 3, 10, 17, 24, 30

View full training schedule in application form.

Frequently asked questions

Who can volunteer as a parent supporter?

Our volunteers come from all walks and stages of life — that’s what makes the team so great! We ask that parent supporters:

  • Can speak, read, and write English to a good standard (for clear communication with medical staff and detailed record-keeping)
  • Live within or can easily commute to clients’ homes across Greater Glasgow
  • Are punctual and reliable
  • Can attend approximately 40 hours of in-person training plus self-directed online learning
  • Work and communicate well within a team
  • Are compassionate and committed to social justice, anti-racism, and inclusion
  • Can support individuals with extensive trauma histories (please consider your own wellbeing if currently healing from trauma)
  • Can support people within home settings and other accommodation across the city, including homes only accessible by stairs
  • Agree to a PVG check (Protecting Vulnerable Groups)

We especially encourage multilingual volunteers and those with lived experience of migration to apply! 

We are inclusive of all women (cis and trans). We welcome non-binary, intersex, and gender non-conforming people who share or have shared lived experiences of women’s issues and are comfortable in a space that centres women.

No. We provide intensive training including:

  • ~15 hours of self-paced online study 
  • ~40 hours of in-person training over three months 
  • Shadowing with experienced staff members once in-person training begins
  • Ongoing support from a mentor, volunteer manager, and the wider team

Our training explores different ways of learning and promotes discussion and connection.

This is the most flexible companionship role within Amma:

  • No expectation to be on-call
  • Visits (excluding hospital appointments) can often be planned according to your schedule
  • You’ll be in regular contact with the Amma team and share your availability
  • Ideally, commit a minimum of 5 hours of volunteering per month (but this is flexible)
  • Minimum 1 year commitment due to the level of training and ongoing support provided

While births can happen at any time, we ask Parent Supporters to predominantly work within our office hours (Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm) so they can receive the best possible support from our team when questions arise. This means postnatal visits, appointments, and practical support tasks typically take place during weekday daytimes.

Our training explores different ways of learning and promotes discussion and connection. Most volunteers finish feeling supported and excited to begin supporting parents.

Topics include:

  • Providing trauma-informed care
  • Boundaries and confidentiality
  • The experiences of our client group
  • Safeguarding, allyship, and privilege
  • Supporting survivors in the birth space
  • Introduction to infant feeding
  • Supporting the postpartum parent
  • Advocacy
  • Infant first aid
  • Food hygiene

Trainee volunteers are expected to shadow our staff team of Perinatal Team Leaders who are actively supporting families.

We also provide ongoing training opportunities to support you in your role.

No. We never want our volunteers to be out of pocket!

We cover:

  • Travel expenses for training and volunteering (we simply ask that you try to take the least expensive public transport available). If you live outside of Glasgow, please discuss with our Volunteer Manager, Jenny Block.
  • Computer and/or internet access if you don’t have these at home. This ensures you can complete online training and update your client notes.
  • If you’re a refugee, in the asylum system, or have no recourse to public funds and have no access to childcare, we can reimburse childcare costs during training but not when you are volunteering.
  • An Amma phone for each active volunteer. This means you don’t incur mobile expenses and it protects your privacy and boundaries when working with families.

We’re committed to supporting volunteers with disabilities. Our team offers personalised assistance, and our training accommodates different learning needs.

However, please note: Supporting a birth may involve physically demanding duties including standing for long periods and providing physical support to labouring parents (weight bearing). Hospital environments can also present sensory challenges. 

Parent supporters may also need to:

  • Navigate stairs – some homes are only accessible by stairs
  • Work in cramped spaces – some clients live in cramped accommodation (e.g., hotel rooms)
  • Manage varied home environments – volunteering in homes can present sensory challenges including household noise, odours, visual stimuli, and variable lighting and room temperature
  • Travel across Greater Glasgow to reach clients’ homes

Given the physical requirements of  the role, we recommend contacting our Volunteer Manager, Jenny Block (jenny@ammabirthcompanions.org), before applying to discuss your specific access needs and how these might be accommodated within the role.

Supporting parents in complex situations is fulfilling, but the emotional impact can be significant. We provide:

  • Ongoing support from an experienced mentor
  • Working in teams 
  • Access to supervision with a mental health professional as needed
  • Ongoing skills development opportunities
  • Regular opportunities to connect with and befriend other Amma volunteers
  • An Amma phone for safe, boundaried working
  • A dedicated volunteer manager
  • Staff guidance on ending support with clients

Ready to join us?

Applications are open on a rolling basis, so please apply even if we aren’t actively recruiting. We’ll reach out to you during the next recruitment phase.

Next application deadline: 20 November 2025

Apply now


If you are interested in volunteering with us but have limited availability, please consider our other flexible volunteer roles like Group Supporter and Driver.

Have questions? Contact our Volunteer Manager, Jenny Block: jenny@ammabirthcompanions.org