Volunteer with Amma

Volunteering Opportunities

Birth Companion

Birth companions offer emotional and practical support to women and birthing people who need extra care during pregnancy and childbirth. The care that birth companions provide is so important, because it helps to improve birth outcomes and experiences for people facing inequalities.

What do birth companions do?

Our volunteer birth companions provide emotional and practical support to women and birthing people during pregnancy and/or birth.

Support is customised for each client and may include:

Accompanying the client in antenatal appointments
Working with the client to create a birth plan
Providing emotional and hands-on support during labour and birth
Offering information about birth rights, processes, and choices, and advocating to ensure these rights are respected
Supporting infant feeding immediately after birth
Informing the staff team when referrals to other agencies are needed to meet the client’s needs
Using an interpreter to overcome language barriers
Keeping simple but thorough records in our client database
Visiting the family after the birth to say goodbye

Birth companions work in small teams, sharing responsibilities with other volunteers and Amma’s Perinatal Team Leaders.

What is the time commitment involved for birth companions?

We offer birth companionship from the start of the third trimester until the baby arrives, with much of the initial support provided by our Perinatal Team Leaders who are also client facing. Ideally, birth companions will meet their client once or twice before birth, but this is not always possible if the client is referred late in pregnancy.

Becoming a birth companion requires flexibility and reliability given the expectation to go on-call from the 37th week of pregnancy. Being on call means that birth companions must ‘drop everything’ and go to the client when labour is progressing. This could be day or night. However, birth companions are not expected to be on-call continuously during the 5 week on-call period. An on-call rota is created based on volunteer availability.

Birth companions are there to support clients throughout labour and birth, including inductions and C-sections. Attending a birth can take eight hours or more.

We request that each birth companion support a minimum of two clients per year (up to a maximum of four clients per year). Due to the level of training and ongoing support provided, we ask that birth companions volunteer for at least one year. Companions are welcome to volunteer with us in other ways between cases.

What training is required to become a birth companion?

It isn’t necessary to have previously trained as a birth worker. We have an intensive volunteer training and shadowing programme and offer ongoing support from staff.

Prior to meeting in person there is a component of self-paced online study (approximately 15 hours). We have tried to limit the amount of reading required, so this content is mostly videos.
Mandatory in-person training is spread over two months and takes place over two weekends and Tuesdays from 10:00-2:00 in our Glasgow city centre office. Every session is on a different topic.
As soon in-person training begins, trainees are encouraged to start shadowing real cases, observing staff members as they meet with clients.
Following completion of training and shadowing, companions are signed off and be assigned to a client.

Our training explores different ways of learning, promotes discussion and connection between participants. Most volunteers finish training feeling supported and excited to enter the vital field of birth work.

Topics for the induction training include:

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

We also provide ongoing training opportunities to support volunteers in their roles.

Where and when does training take place?

Companion training takes place at our Glasgow city centre office twice per year.

The next companion recruitment and training dates are:

Application deadline: 15^th November 2024
Interviews (via Zoom): 18^th November-13^th December
Self-paced online training: 14^th December-16^th January
In-person training: All sessions are mandatory

Weekend training dates:

Friday 17^th January 9.30-4.30
Saturday 18^th January 9.30-4.30
Friday 31^st January 9.30-4.30
Saturday 1^st February 10-5

Tuesday training dates:

21^st January 10-2
4^th February 10-2
11^th February 10-2
25^th February 10-2
4^th March 10-2
11^th March 10-2
18^th March 10-2
25^th March 10-2

What ongoing support is offered to birth companions?

Reflective and supported practice are essential for the safety and wellbeing of both birth companions and the clients they support. Although this is a very fulfilling role, the emotional impact of supporting parents in complex situations can be significant.

Therefore, we put the following in place:

Ongoing support from an experienced mentor
Working in teams when supporting a client
Monthly supervision sessions led by a mental health professional
Access to individual mental health support if needed
Ongoing skills development opportunities
Regular opportunities to connect with and befriend other Amma volunteers
The provision of an Amma phone to enable safe and boundaried working
A dedicated volunteer manager

Who can apply?

Our volunteers come from all walks and stages of life and that’s what makes the team so great! We do ask that our birth companions:

Can speak, read and write English to a good standard. This is to ensure clear communication with medical staff and detailed record-keeping.
Live within (or can easily commute to) Glasgow hospitals
Have the time to dedicate to the role. This means being available to be on call and able to drop everything and go when labour starts.
Are punctual and reliable
Are available to attend approximately 50 hours of face-to-face induction training supplemented with self-directed online learning
Can work and communicate well within a team
Be compassionate and committed to the principles of social and reproductive justice, anti-racism, and inclusion
Be able to support individuals safely and confidently with an extensive history of trauma (if you are currently undergoing recovery from personal trauma, please consider your own wellbeing before applying to this role)
Agree to a PVG check (PVG stands for Protecting Vulnerable Groups)
Be able to commit to one year of volunteering

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.

We strongly encourage people who speak other languages to apply. Whenever possible, we try to pair clients and companions who share the same language.

Can you accommodate birth companions with disabilities?

We’re committed to providing inclusive support for all birth companions, including those with disabilities.

Our team is trained to offer personalised assistance tailored to the specific needs of each individual. Our training aims to accommodate different learning needs, and we are always happy to discuss any specific communication methods of other forms of assistance you may require.

It’s important to note that birth companions perform physically demanding duties, such as standing for long periods and providing physical support to the labouring parent. This may include weight bearing and standing for long periods.

This role also involves volunteering in homes that are only accessible by stairs. Some of our clients live in cramped accommodation (e.g. hotel rooms), which can be challenging to navigate for those with mobility issues.

It’s also worth noting that most of our clients give birth in hospitals, which can present a variety of sensory challenges (e.g. bright lighting, noise, visual stimuli, emotionally intense atmosphere).

Before applying, we recommend reaching out to our Volunteer Manager, Jenny Block jenny@ammabirthcompanions.org, to discuss your specific access needs and how these might be accommodated within the role.

Do you cover volunteer expenses?

Yes. We do not want our volunteers to be out of pocket for supporting clients, so:

We cover travel expenses for training and volunteering (we simply ask that volunteers try to take the least expensive form of public transport available).Please discuss with our Volunteer Manager, Jenny Block, if you live outside of Glasgow.
For volunteers who do not have access to a computer and/or the internet, we can provide these things. This is so that you can complete the online portion of training and have a way to update your client notes.
For volunteers who are refugees, in the asylum system, or who have no recourse to public funds and have no access to childcare during in-person training, we have a small budget to reimburse childcare costs (please note that we are not able to cover childcare costs while supporting clients).
Each active volunteer is provided with an Amma phone. This is so you don’t incur mobile expense and also to protect your privacy and boundaries when working with clients.

What the best thing about being a birth companion?

When you join Amma you are joining a diverse community of people who are passionate about birth. It’s a supportive place to make friends and learn more about yourself. The support our volunteers offer makes a tangible impact on real people experiencing hardship, and the training and staff support equips you to take that on without feeling out of your depth or burning out. It’s a privilege to support birthing people as they become new parents and to spend time with new babies.

What's most challenging about being a birth companion?

It is difficult to witness the many systemic injustices and disparities that our clients are facing, and to sometimes feel powerless to help. This is why it’s so important that volunteers attend supervision and lean on the support of the wider team.

Postnatal Companion

Postnatal companions volunteer as part of a team to support and nurture parents’ physical and emotional recovery from birth. They help to ensure parents are rested, nourished, able to bond with and comfortably feed their baby.

What do postnatal companions do?

Our volunteer postnatal companions provide emotional and practical support to women and birthing people following birth. Postnatal support includes a combination of in-person visits, phone support, and outings.

Support is tailored to each client and may include:

Postnatal planning during pregnancy
Helping with infant feeding (breast/chest, formula, combination)
Assisting with shopping and other domestic tasks (e.g., food preparation)
Caring for other children to allow parents to rest or attend to their baby, or caring for the new baby so the parent can rest, bathe, or eat (while it is fine for volunteers to care for children in a different room, they should never care for children in a different location from the parent).
Accompanying parents to medical appointments, birth registration or baby wellbeing checks
Informing the staff team when onward referrals are necessary to ensure clients’ needs are met by the most appropriate agency
Connecting parents with local parent/baby groups and the Amma Family peer support group
Using an interpreter to overcome language barriers

Postnatal companions typically work in small teams alongside other volunteers, with support from Amma’s Perinatal Team Leaders.

What is the time commitment involved for postnatal companions?

Postnatal companions carry out an average of three-four visits following birth (approximately 10 hours of support in total), but more time may be required for clients with particularly complex needs. Whenever possible we will aim to share responsibilities amongst a wider support team.

Before beginning support, the team will meet to discuss availability and make a general rota of availability. While this role can largely fit within your schedule, we ask that visits are made during working hours so that the Amma staff team is available to help if needed.

Although postnatal companions are not expected to be ‘on-call’, some degree of flexibility is still needed. This is because babies may arrive before their expected delivery date.

Ideally, postnatal companions meet with their client at least once before the baby is born, but, this is not always possible if the client is referred late in pregnancy.

The level of support offered by the postnatal companion is usually frontloaded so that more visits take place soon after the birth and reduces as the weeks go on.

What training is required?

It isn’t necessary to have previously trained in birth work/postnatal care. We have an intensive volunteer training and shadowing programme and offer ongoing support from staff at every turn.

Prior to meeting in person there is a component of self-paced online study (approximately 15 hours).
Mandatory in-person training is spread over two months (approximately 40 hours) and takes place over one weekend and Tuesdays from 10:00-2:00 in our Glasgow city centre office. Every session is on a different topic.
As soon in-person training begins, trainees are encouraged to start shadowing real cases, observing staff members as they meet with clients.
Following completion of training and shadowing, companions are signed off and can working with their own clients.

Our training explores different ways of learning, promotes discussion and connection between participants, and leaves our volunteers feeling supported and excited to enter the vital field of postnatal support.

Topics for the induction training 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

We also provide ongoing training opportunities to support volunteers in their roles.

Where and when does training take place?

When and where does training take place?

Companion training takes place at our Glasgow city centre office twice per year.

The next companion recruitment and training dates are:

Application deadline: 15^th November 2024
Interviews (via Zoom): 18^th November-13^th December
Self-paced online training: 14^th December-16^th January
In-person training: All sessions are mandatory

Weekend training dates:

Friday 17^th January 9.30-4.30
Saturday 18^th January 9.30-4.30

Tuesday training dates:

21^st January 10-2
4^th February 10-2
11^th February 10-2
25^th February 10-2
4^th March 10-2
11^th March 10-2
18^th March 10-2
25^th March 10-2

What ongoing support is offered to postnatal companions?

Reflective and supported practice are essential for the safety and wellbeing of both postnatal companions and the clients they support. Although this is a very fulfilling role, the emotional impact of supporting parents in complex situations can be significant.

Therefore, we put the following in place:

Ongoing support from an experienced mentor
Monthly supervision sessions led by a mental health professional
Access to individual mental health support if needed

The support of working in teams when supporting clients

Ongoing skills development opportunities
Regular opportunities to connect with and befriend other Amma volunteers
The provision of an Amma phone to enable safe and boundaried working
A dedicated volunteer manager

Who can apply?

Our volunteers come from all walks and stages of life and that’s what makes the team so great! We ask that our postnatal companions:

Can speak, read and write English to a good standard. This is to ensure 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
Are available to attend approximately 40 hours of face-to-face induction training supplemented with self-directed online learning
Can work and communicate well within a team
Be compassionate and committed to the principles of social and reproductive justice, anti-racism, and inclusion
Be able to support individuals safely and confidently with an extensive history of trauma (if you are currently undergoing recovery from personal trauma, please consider your own wellbeing before applying to this role)
Can support people within a home setting and within other accommodation across the city. This also includes volunteering in homes that are only accessible by stairs.
Agree to a PVG check (PVG stands for Protecting Vulnerable Groups)

We strongly encourage people who speak other languages to apply. Whenever possible, we try to pair clients and companions who share the same language.

Can you accommodate postnatal companions with disabilities?

We’re committed to providing inclusive support for all postnatal companions, including those with disabilities.

It’s important to note that postnatal companions may be required to volunteer in homes that are only accessible by stairs. Some of our clients live in cramped accommodation (e.g. hotel rooms), which can be challenging to navigate for those with mobility issues.

It’s also worth noting that volunteering in people’s homes can present sensory challenges, including household noise, odours, visual stimuli, and variable lighting and room temperature.

Do you cover volunteer expenses?

Yes. We do not want our volunteers to be out of pocket for supporting clients, so:

We cover travel expenses for training and volunteering (we simply ask that volunteers try to take the least expensive form of public transport available). Please speak with our Volunteer Manager, Jenny Block, if you will be commuting from outside of Glasgow.
For volunteers who do not have access to a computer and/or the internet, we can provide these things.
For volunteers who are in the asylum system or who have no recourse to public funds and have no access to childcare during in-person training, we have a small budget to reimburse childcare costs (please note that we are not able to cover childcare costs while supporting clients).
Each active volunteer is provided with an Amma phone. This is so you don’t incur mobile expense and also to protect your privacy and boundaries when working with clients.

What’s the best thing about becoming a postnatal companion?

Joining Amma means becoming part of a compassionate and diverse community, where you can form meaningful friendships. Our volunteers play a crucial role in providing postnatal care that directly benefits new parents facing challenges. Spending time with new parents and their babies is a great privilege.

What’s challenging about being a postnatal companion?

It is difficult to witness the many systemic injustices and disparities that our clients are facing, and to sometimes feel powerless to help. It can also be difficult to end support, but you will be guided by staff on how to do this. For these reasons, it’s so important that volunteers attend supervision and lean on the support of the wider team.

Parent Supporter

Parent Supporters offer emotional and practical support to our clients during late pregnancy and the early postpartum period. This is an ad hoc role designed for volunteers with limited availability or inflexible schedules.

What do parent supporters do?

Parent Supporters play a vital role in strengthening our support services by helping clients with specific tasks that birth or postnatal companions do not have capacity to fulfil. Parent Supporters are typically not assigned to one specific client. Instead, tasks are assigned to Parent Supporters according to their specified availability.

Parent Supporters assist clients in their homes, at hospital appointments, and occasionally at Amma’s office. Support is tailored to each client 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
Informing the staff team when onward referrals are necessary to ensure clients’ needs are met by the most appropriate agency
Shopping for essential items in an emergency
Working as part of a wider support team to ensure clients’ needs are met
Using an interpreter to overcome language barriers
Keeping simple but thorough records using our client database

What is the time commitment involved for parent supporters?

This is one of the most flexible volunteer roles within Amma, as there is no expectation to be on-call. Visits (excluding hospital appointments) can often be planned according to the volunteer’s schedule.

Parent Supporters are in regular contact with members of the Amma team and share their availability. P
Ideally, Parent Supporters would be able to commit a minimum of five hours of volunteering per month, but this is flexible.
Due to the level of training and ongoing support provided, we ask that Parent Supporters commit to a minimum of one year of volunteering.

What training is required?

It isn’t necessary to have previously trained in birth work/postnatal care. We have an intensive volunteer training and shadowing programme and offer ongoing support from staff at every turn.

Prior to meeting in person there is a component of self-paced online study (approximately 15 hours).
Mandatory in-person training is spread over two months (approximately 40 hours) and takes place over one weekend and Tuesdays from 10:00-2:00 in our Glasgow city centre office. Every session is on a different topic.
As soon in-person training begin, trainees are encouraged to start shadowing real cases, observing staff members as they meet with clients.
Following completion of training and shadowing, companions are signed off and can working with their own clients.

Our training explores different ways of learning, promotes discussion and connection between participants. Topics for the induction training include:

Provided 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

We also provide ongoing training opportunities to support volunteers in their roles.

When and where does training take place?

Parent Supporter training takes place at our Glasgow city centre office twice per year.

The next recruitment and training dates are:

Application deadline: 15^th November 2024
Interviews (via Zoom): 18^th November-13^th December
Self-paced online training: 14^th December-16^th January
In-person training: All sessions are mandatory

Weekend training dates:

Friday 17^th January 9.30-4.30
Saturday 18^th January 9.30-4.30

Tuesday training dates:

21^st January 10-2
4^th February 10-2
11^th February 10-2
25^th February 10-2
4^th March 10-2
11^th March 10-2
18^th March 10-2
25^th March 10-2

What ongoing support is offered to parent supporters>

Reflective and supported practice are essential for the safety and wellbeing of both parent supporters and the clients they support. Although this is a very fulfilling role, the emotional impact of supporting parents in complex situations can be significant.

Therefore, we put the following in place:

Ongoing support from an experienced mentor
Monthly supervision sessions led by a mental health professional
Access to individual mental health support if needed
Ongoing skills development opportunities
Regular opportunities to connect with and befriend other Amma volunteers
The provision of an Amma phone to enable safe and boundaried working
A dedicated volunteer manager

Who can apply?

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

Can speak, read and write English to a good standard. This is to ensure 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
Are available to attend approximately 40 hours of face-to-face induction training supplemented with self-directed online learning
Can work and communicate well within a team
Be compassionate and committed to the principles of social and reproductive justice, anti-racism, and inclusion
Be able to support individuals safely and confidently with an extensive history of trauma (if you are currently undergoing recovery from personal trauma, please consider your own wellbeing before applying to this role)
Can support people within a hospital and home setting and within other accommodation across the city. This also includes volunteering in homes that are only accessible by stairs.
Agree to a PVG check (PVG stands for Protecting Vulnerable Groups.)

We strongly encourage people who speak other languages to apply. Whenever possible, we try to pair clients and companions who share the same language.

Can you accommodate parent supporters with disabilities?

We’re committed to providing inclusive support for all Parent Supporters, including those with disabilities.

It’s important to note that Parent Supporters may be required to volunteer in homes that are only accessible by stairs. Some of our clients live in cramped accommodation (e.g. hotel rooms), which can be challenging to navigate for those with mobility issues.

It’s also worth noting that volunteering in both hospitals and in people’s homes can present sensory challenges, including household noise, odours, visual stimuli, and variable lighting and room temperature.

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Do you cover travel expenses?

Yes. We do not want our volunteers to be out of pocket for supporting clients, so:

We cover travel expenses for training and volunteering (we simply ask that volunteers try to take the least expensive form of public transport available).Please speak with our Volunteer Manager, Jenny Block, if you will be commuting from outside of Glasgow.
For volunteers in the asylum process or for those experiencing significant financial barriers, who do not have access to a computer and/or the internet, we can provide these things while you are doing the online training and when you are active on a case.
For volunteers who are in the asylum system or who have no recourse to public funds and have no access to childcare during in-person training, we have a small budget to reimburse childcare costs (please note that we are not able to cover childcare costs while supporting clients).
Each active volunteer is provided with an Amma phone. This is so you don’t incur mobile expense and also to protect your privacy and boundaries when working with clients.

What's the best thing about becoming a Parent Supporter>

Joining Amma means becoming part of a compassionate and diverse community, where you can form meaningful friendships. Our volunteers play a crucial role in providing care that directly benefits new parents facing challenges. Spending time with new parents and their babies is a remarkable privilege that remains endlessly fulfilling. Our Parent Supporters get to jump in to provide invaluable support to existing teams in a way that works within their own schedule.

What's challenging about being a parent supporter?

Mentor

Our volunteer mentors offer an extra layer of support to our wonderful volunteer companions. Their role is to provide support and guidance to our companion volunteers, complementing the roles of the group supervision and service manager. They play an integral role in supporting Amma to be an informed, safe and supportive organisation for our volunteers and clients.

What do mentors do?

Each parent receiving individual support will have a small team of birth and/or postnatal companions assigned to them. If these companions are newer to the role, a mentor will be added to the group for the period that they are working with that client.

Mentors’ support can be offered remotely, so you don’t need to be local to Glasgow. Support is provided through arranged meetings (WhatsApp, phone, video conferencing or face to face), either with the group or with an individual companion. A couple of meetings may be sufficient, but more may be needed in complex situations. Mentors should also be available to answer questions and support if issues arise from time to time.

Mentors are provided with an Amma phone and can follow what is happening with a client’s support through a WhatsApp group and our online records management system (where we record our case notes). This enables mentors to come forward if they identify that support or guidance is needed at a particular moment.

What is the time commitment involved for volunteer mentors?

This is a flexible role that can work within your schedule. When you have capacity to support a case, you will be added to the WhatsApp group containing the team and a member of the Amma staff will fill everyone in on the details of the case. Every case is different but can last up to two months in total.

What training is required?

Even if you have experience as a birth worker or midwife, we ask our volunteer mentors to participate in most of our companionship training. In addition to rounding out your own knowledge, this also helps you to understand the role of the companions who you will be supporting.

Prior to meeting in person there is a component of self-paced online study (approximately 15 hours). We have tried to limit the amount of reading required, so this content is mostly videos.
In person training is spread over two months and takes place over two weekends and Tuesdays from 10am-2pm in our Glasgow city centre office. Every session is on a different topic and is vital to the companionship/mentor role.

Following completion of training, mentors are signed off and can be signed up with a team.

Topics for the induction training include:

Providing trauma-informed care
Boundaries and confidentiality
The experiences of our client group
Safeguarding, allyship and privilege
Birth experiences and interventions
Supporting survivors in the birth space
Supporting active birth and oxytocin
Introduction to infant feeding
Supporting the postpartum parent
Advocacy

We also provide ongoing training opportunities to support volunteers in their roles.

When and where does training take place?

Mentors are trained alongside our companions. Companion training takes place at our Glasgow city centre office twice per year.

The next companion recruitment and training dates are:

Application deadline: 15^th November 2024
Interviews (via Zoom): 18^th November-13^th December
Self-paced online training: 14^th December-16^th January
In-person training: All sessions are mandatory

Weekend training dates:

Friday 17^th January 9.30-4.30
Saturday 18^th January 9.30-4.30
Friday 31^st January 9.30-4.30
Saturday 1^st February 10-5

Tuesday training dates:

21^st January 10-2
4^th February 10-2
11^th February 10-2
25^th February 10-2
4^th March 10-2
11^th March 10-2
18^th March 10-2
25^th March 10-2

What ongoing support is offered to mentors?

Therefore, we put the following in place:

The support of working in teams when on a case
Access to individual mental health support if needed
Ongoing skills development opportunities
Regular opportunities to connect with and befriend other Amma volunteers
The provision of an Amma phone to enable safe and boundaried working
A dedicated volunteer manager

Who can apply?

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

Have substantial experience in a relevant field. This could be midwifery, counselling or doula work.
Can speak, read and write English to a good standard
Have the time to dedicate to the role.
Are punctual and reliable
Are available to attend approximately 50 hours of face-to-face induction training supplemented with self-directed online learning
Can work and communicate well within a team
Be compassionate and committed to the principles of social and reproductive justice, anti-racism, and inclusion
Be able to support individuals safely and confidently with an extensive history of trauma (if you are currently undergoing recovery from personal trauma, please consider your own wellbeing before applying to this role)
Agree to a PVG check (PVG stands for Protecting Vulnerable Groups.
Commit to one year of volunteering with us

Can you accommodate mentors with disabilities?

We’re committed to providing inclusive support for all mentors, including those with disabilities.

This role can be performed remotely if that is the mentor’s preference.

Do you cover volunteer expenses?

Yes. We do not want our volunteers to be out of pocket for supporting clients, so:

We cover travel expenses for training and volunteering (we simply ask that volunteers try to take the least expensive form of public transport available).Please discuss with our Volunteer Manager, Jenny Block, if you live outside of Glasgow.
For volunteers who do not have access to a computer and/or the internet, we can provide these things. This is so that you can complete the online portion of training and have a way to update your client notes.
For volunteers who are in the asylum system or who have no recourse to public funds and have no access to childcare during in-person training, we have a small budget to reimburse childcare costs (please note that we are not able to cover childcare costs while supporting clients).
Each active volunteer is provided with an Amma phone. In addition to ensuring that you will not incur communication costs, this will also protect your privacy and boundaries when working with volunteers.

What’s the best thing about becoming a volunteer mentor?

When you join Amma you are joining a diverse community of people who are passionate about birth. It’s a supportive place to make friends while embarking on a journey of self-exploration. Using your experience and wisdom to provide an extra layer of support to our incredible volunteer companions is a brilliant way to contribute to improving the landscape of birth for all people.

What's challenging about being a volunteer mentor?

It is difficult for our companions (and in turn our mentors) to witness and hear about the many systemic injustices and disparities that our clients are facing, and to sometimes feel powerless to help. Our mentors can easily access support from the Amma staff team so that they do not feel overwhelmed or burned out.

Infant Feeding Supporter

Infant Feeding Supporters offer an extra layer of guidance and support to volunteer companions and staff when their clients are experiencing challenges with infant feeding.

What is the time commitment involved for infant feeding supporters?

Infant feeding support can be offered remotely, so you don’t need to be local to Glasgow. Support is provided through arranged meetings (WhatsApp, phone, video conferencing or face to face), either with the group, an individual companion or the client.

Rather than being assigned a particular client, Infant Feeding Experts provide support on an ad hoc basis as and when questions come up and in line with your availability.

Infant Feeding Supporters may also have opportunities to support our online infant feeding peer support group. n this space you are there to provide an additional layer of expertise should peer supporters be unable to answer the questions the clients bring to the group.

What training is required?

We ask our Infant Feeding Supporters to participate in most of our companionship training. In addition to rounding out your own knowledge, this also helps you to understand the experiences of our unique client base as well as the role of the companions who you will be supporting.

Prior to meeting in person there is a component of self-paced online study (approximately 15 hours). We have tried to limit the amount of reading required, so this content is mostly videos.
Mandatory in-person training is spread over two months and takes place over two weekends and Tuesdays from 10:00-2:00 in our Glasgow city centre office. Every session is on a different topic.
Following completion of training, Infant Feeding Experts are signed off and can begin offering support.

Topics for the induction training include:

Providing trauma-informed care
Boundaries and confidentiality
The experiences of our client group
Safeguarding, allyship and privilege
Birth experiences and interventions
Supporting survivors in the birth space
Supporting active birth and oxytocin
Introduction to infant feeding
Supporting the postpartum parent
Advocacy

We also provide ongoing training opportunities to support volunteers in their roles.

Where and when does training take place?

Infant Feeding Supporters train alongside our companions. Companion training takes place at our Glasgow city centre office twice per year.

The next companion recruitment and training dates are:

Application deadline: 15^th November 2024
Interviews (via Zoom): 18^th November-13^th December
Self-paced online training: 14^th December-16^th January
In-person training: All sessions are mandatory

Weekend training dates:

Friday 17^th January 9.30-4.30
Saturday 18^th January 9.30-4.30
Friday 31^st January 9.30-4.30
Saturday 1^st February 10-5

Tuesday training dates:

21^st January 10-2
4^th February 10-2
11^th February 10-2
25^th February 10-2
4^th March 10-2
11^th March 10-2
18^th March 10-2
25^th March 10-2

What ongoing support is offered to Infant Feeding Supporters?

Therefore, we put the following in place:

Joining a team of other Infant Feeding Supporters to provide peer support
Access to individual mental health support if needed
Ongoing skills development opportunities
Regular opportunities to connect with and befriend other Amma volunteers
The provision of an Amma phone to enable safe and boundaried working
A dedicated volunteer manager

Who can apply?

Our volunteers come from all walks and stages of life and that’s what makes the team so great! We ask that our Infant Feeding Supporters:

Have substantial experience in the field of infant feeding. This should go beyond a personal infant feeding journey and include additional training/accreditation in the topic as well as experience in providing individual and peer support in infant feeding.
Can speak, read and write English to a good standard.
Have the time to dedicate to the role.

Are punctual and reliable
Are available to attend approximately 50 hours of face-to-face induction training supplemented with self-directed online learning
Can work and communicate well within a team
Be compassionate and committed to the principles of social and reproductive justice, anti-racism, and inclusion
Be able to support individuals safely and confidently with an extensive history of trauma (if you are currently undergoing recovery from personal trauma, please consider your own wellbeing before applying to this role)
Agree to a PVG check (PVG stands for Protecting Vulnerable Groups.)
Commit to one year of volunteering with us

We strongly encourage people who speak other languages to apply.

Can you accommodate mentors with disabilities?

We’re committed to providing inclusive support for all mentors, including those with disabilities.

This role can be performed remotely if that is your preference.

Do you cover volunteer expenses?

Yes. We do not want our volunteers to be out of pocket for supporting clients, so:

We cover travel expenses for training and volunteering (we simply ask that volunteers try to take the least expensive form of public transport available).Please discuss with our Volunteer Manager, Jenny Block, if you live outside of Glasgow.
For volunteers who do not have access to a computer and/or the internet, we can provide these things. This is so that you can complete the online portion of training and have a way to update your client notes.
For volunteers who are in the asylum system or who have no recourse to public funds and have no access to childcare during in-person training, we have a small budget to reimburse childcare costs (please note that we are not able to cover childcare costs while supporting clients).
Each active volunteer is provided with an Amma phone. In addition to ensuring that you will not incur communication costs, this will also protect your privacy and boundaries when working with clients.

What's the best thing about becoming an Infant Feeding Supporter?

When you join Amma you are joining a diverse community of people who are passionate about birth. It’s a supportive place to make friends while embarking on a journey of self-exploration. Using your experience and wisdom around infant feeding is a great way to contribute to supporting parent/infant relationships amongst people facing significant adversity.

What's challenging about being an Infant Feeding Supporter?

It is difficult for our volunteers to witness and hear about the many systemic injustices and disparities that our clients are facing, and to sometimes feel powerless to help. Our Infant Feeding Supporters can easily access support from the Amma staff team so that they do not feel overwhelmed or burned out.

Group Supporter

Outside of our companionship support, Amma also runs weekly events for parents and children. These include our Amma Family peer support activities and pregnancy group. Our Group Supporter volunteers provide helping hands to the Amma team to make sure these regular events run smoothly.

What do group supporters do?

Group Supporter volunteers offer helping hands at our various events. It’s a dynamic role in a busy and bustling space. Some ways that our volunteers help include:

Being a welcoming face at the front door and signing in parents and children,,
Reimbursing clients with bus fare
Pitching in with food preparation and distribution
Holding babies and playing with older children so that parents can have a chance to relax, chat and learn
Helping to set up and clean up before and after groups
Encouraging new or shy participants to join in and make new friends

What is the time commitment involved for Group Supporters?

This is a very flexible role. Group Supporters are added to a WhatsApp group where opportunities to volunteer are posted regularly. If you have time in your schedule you sign up. We ask that Group Supporters commit to supporting one event per month. Groups that regularly need support include:

Amma Family Group: Every Wednesday, 11:00am-3:00pm: This parent and baby group offers a safe and inclusive space to build strong, supportive networks with other families. It includes regular workshops, and activities. This group mostly meets in the Amma office, although sometimes trips in and around Glasgow are planned.
Gardening Group: Every Tuesday, 11:00am-3:00pm (April- September). A wonderful collaboration between Amma and the Washhouse Gardens in Tollcross.
Pregnancy Group: Every other Thursday, 12pm-3pm: Inclusive, trauma-informed sessions where expectant parents come together to learn about pregnancy and birth, share food, and build connections with other pregnant people.
Activities and Events outside of the Amma Office: Ad Hoc: Group outings take place in family-friendly settings in and around Glasgow. This helps to foster connections amongst participants and creates opportunities for parents to explore Glasgow and the surrounding areas.

What training is required?

Our training explores different ways of learning, promotes discussion and connection between participants, and leaves our volunteers feeling supported and excited to enter the role.

Topics for the induction training include:

Providing trauma-informed care
Boundaries and confidentiality
The experiences of our client group
Safeguarding, allyship and privilege

Where and when does training take place?

We offer training for this role every few months. The training takes place in person at the Amma office. The next training date is Thursday 19^th September from 10am-4pm. Training will take place at our Glasgow city centre office.

Who can apply?

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

Can speak English to a fair standard
Live within (or can easily commute to) the Amma office in Glasgow city centre
Are punctual and reliable
Are available to attend approximately a one-day induction training
Can work and communicate well within a team
Be compassionate and committed to the principles of anti-racism and inclusion
Be able to support individuals safely and confidently with an extensive history of trauma (if you are currently undergoing recovery from personal trauma, please consider your own wellbeing before applying to this role)
Agree to a PVG check (PVG stands for Protecting Vulnerable Groups.)

We strongly encourage people who speak other languages to apply.

Can you accommodate group supporters with disabilities?

We’re committed to providing inclusive support for all Group Supporters, including those with disabilities.

It’s worth noting that volunteering in this role can present sensory challenges, including loud noise, crowded spaces, odours, visual stimuli, and variable lighting and room temperature.

Do you cover volunteer expenses?

Yes. We do not want our volunteers to be out of pocket for supporting clients, so:

We cover travel expenses for training and volunteering (we simply ask that volunteers try to take the least expensive form of public transport available).Please speak with our Volunteer Manager, Jenny Block, if you will be commuting from outside of Glasgow.
For volunteers who are in the asylum system or who have no recourse to public funds and have no access to childcare during in-person training, we have a small budget to reimburse childcare costs (please note that we are not able to cover childcare costs while supporting clients).

What’s the best thing about becoming a group supporter?

Joining Amma means becoming part of a compassionate and diverse community, where you can form meaningful friendships. Our volunteers play a crucial role in providing care that directly benefits new parents facing challenges. Spending time with new parents and their babies is a great privilege. Our Group Supporters get to support new families in a fun, vibrant, and diverse environment.

What’s the hardest thing about being a group supporter?

It is difficult to learn about the many systemic injustices and disparities that our clients are facing, and to sometimes feel powerless to help. It can also be difficult to stay boundaried in the support that you offer, but you will be guided by staff on how to do this.

Delivery Driver

Delivery Drivers support the organisation by helping us reduce the pressure on companions and providing a safe and trustworthy method of delivering much needed items to clients.

Ways that a volunteer driver may support us include:

Picking up and dropping off baby items (eg: pram, baby furniture, supplies) from the Amma office or baby bank and delivering to the client’s home.
Carrying items into clients’ homes, potentially helping to set up item (e.g.: cot)
Supporting Amma to deliver gifts to clients during holiday period

What is the time commitment involved for volunteer delivery drivers?

This is a very flexible role. Volunteer drivers are added to a WhatsApp group where opportunities to volunteer are posted regularly. If you have time in your schedule you sign up. (Please note that items located in the office will need to be collected during regular office hours)

What training is required?

Our training explores different ways of learning, promotes discussion and connection between participants, and leaves our volunteers feeling supported and excited to enter the role.

Topics for the induction training include:

Introduction to trauma-informed care
Boundaries and confidentiality
The experiences of our client group
Safeguarding, allyship and privilege

Where and when does training take place?

We offer training for this role every few months. The training takes place in person at the Amma office. The next training date is Thursday 19^th September from 10am-2pm. Training will take place at our Glasgow city centre office.

Who can apply?

Our volunteers come from all walks and stages of life and that’s what makes the team so great! We ask that our volunteer drivers:

Possess a current driver’s license, ULEZ compliant car/van and insurance.
Pass a PVG check, which Amma will carry out. (PVG stands for Protecting Vulnerable Groups.)
Have a caring, compassionate, non-judgmental, and calm disposition
Have the ability to work as part of a team
Can manage confidentiality and boundaries
Believe in Amma’s values including a commitment to anti-racism and inclusivity
Have self-motivation, emotional resilience, a flexible approach, and the ability to effectively manage your own wellbeing
Are willing to follow health and safety guidance
Can physically carry items (prams, furniture, car seats) upstairs and into people’s homes
Are willing to support people within a home setting and within other accommodation across the city
Are a Glasgow area resident

People of all genders and identities are welcome to apply to this role. This includes those who are trans, non-binary, intersex and gender non-conforming.

We strongly encourage people who speak other languages to apply.

Can you accommodate delivery driver with disabilities?

We’re committed to providing inclusive support for all Group Supporters, including those with disabilities.

It’s important to note that volunteer drivers may be required to volunteer in homes that are only accessible by stairs. Some of our clients live in cramped accommodation (e.g. hotel rooms), which can be challenging to navigate for those with mobility issues.

It’s worth noting that volunteering in this role can present sensory challenges, including noise, odours, visual stimuli, and variable lighting and room temperature.

Do you cover volunteer expenses?

Yes. We do not want our volunteers to be out of pocket for supporting clients, so:

When you are volunteering with us, Amma will cover the cost of petrol and parking in full.
It is important that you let your car insurer know that you are using your vehicle as a volunteer. Usually this is a quick phone call with no cost attached, however if you incur and small admin fee as a result, Amma will cover that.

What's the best thing about becoming a volunteer delivery driver?

Joining Amma means becoming part of a compassionate and diverse community, where you can form meaningful friendships. Our volunteers play a crucial role in providing care that directly benefits new parents facing challenges. Our volunteer drivers provide tangible support for families in a way that fits your schedule.

What's challenging about being a delivery driver?

It is difficult to witness the many systemic injustices and disparities that our clients are facing, and to sometimes feel powerless to help. It can also be difficult to stay boundaried in the support that you offer, but you will be guided by staff on how to do this.

Volunteering with Amma

Volunteering Opportunities

Birth Companion

Postnatal Companion

Parent Supporter

Mentor

Infant Feeding Supporter

Group Supporter

Delivery Driver