Become a short-breaks volunteer host
Volunteer hosts include, families, couples and individuals who welcome people with disabilities, to their homes, on a regular basis for short periods of time. This can be for a few hours a week, or weekend visits, to longer holiday type breaks.
This is a rewarding role as it offers a child or young person the opportunity to make new friends and gain independence while allowing parents and other family members to step outside their usual routine.
All hosts are fully checked out and approved. Hosts attend an orientation course to prepare them for supporting their guests. Once you are a short-breaks host, you will be offered ongoing training, support and an allowance. Hosts come from all different backgrounds. They can be employed or unemployed and they may or may not have children of their own.
There are lots of different short-break roles. Some volunteer hosts provide day care; others provide sleepovers and weekend breaks. Some welcome the same person each time. Others welcome a number of people with disabilities. Contract family schemes provide short breaks on a paid basis and tend to do this as more of a full time job supporting a number of people. These short-breaks schemes differ from home-sharing schemes that provide more permanent accommodation.
There is a range of opportunities to provide short-breaks services to both children and adults with disabilities. If you are interested in becoming a host, you can either find a family based short-break service or contact us using the form below.
Membership
NHSN is a not for profit network and relies on subscriptions to run it’s business.
Full annual membership costs €100 for a scheme and €25 for an individual member. Find out more and become a member!
