Capacity.
A Community Connector’s Story
I moved to Blackpool when I was about 38 weeks pregnant. It sounds so sad, but I didn’t have any friends. When I had my baby, I became quite poorly with post-natal depression and anxiety and I was struggling with breast feeding, but I pushed myself to go to my local children’s centre and from there I started going to the playgroup every week.
I made some friends there and after a while the staff were like, “Would you like to join our parent forum?” and “We’ve got some courses on and you can come,” and “There’s some volunteering opportunities if you’re interested?”
So, I joined the Parent Forum and we redeveloped some little garden spaces and we got funding for children’s parties and activities and helped to distribute funding for other groups and projects.
Now, I’m a Community Connector, a role I helped to design as a parent on the Parent Forum.
We always wear orange t-shirts because it helps people recognize us and find us when we’re walking round the community. I often get people coming up saying, “My friend said someone in an orange t-shirt helped my friend with x,y,z. Can you help me with the same?”
No one day is ever the same. I help people get food parcels, discretionary support, baby milk, gas and electric.
I help people find nursery places and school places.
I go into GP surgeries, well-baby clinics and let people in the waiting room know that we can help them to sign up for ante-natal classes, apply for vouchers and get free healthy start vitamins.
And then at the other end of the spectrum there’s people who are plodding on alright, but they’re just a bit bored at home and want to do some volunteering.
A lot of people I help struggle with trust and disillusionment, and the cost of living makes everything so much harder. It’s not always the families that you think. Sometimes it’s the families who are working, and not receiving any benefits. They are just about paying their bills, but they don’t have anything left for anything else. They feel ashamed saying, “I can’t get my child any Christmas presents, the bills have taken everything.”
But there’s less stigma around it now because it’s on the news every day. Everybody’s feeling it. Everybody’s in the same boat.
So, it’s my job to help people to realise that there is so much help available in Blackpool and that there are all of these groups and activities you can join.
There’s always someone to talk to, always someone around to pick their brains if you’ve got a work problem or personal problems. Since I got involved with Better Start I’ve done things that I would never have done. I know it sounds really corny, but I do feel like it’s made me a better person.
The Five Cs