Become a parent befriender

"It’s about having the confidence to listen and use my own experiences to help others."

We recruit and train parents who want to befriend other parents with disabled children.

• Do you have a disabled child, aged 18 or under (although this is flexible depending on your local scheme)?
• Is it at least two years since you discovered your child was disabled?

If so, then your experience and knowledge could be invaluable to other parents.

Do you remember how you felt when you first discovered your child was disabled? You probably remember how useful it was to have other people to talk to in those early days. Or maybe there wasn’t anyone for you to talk to at that time.

Face 2 Face is a network of parent befrienders who are trained to support local families as they make positive adjustments. Every new befriender means we can support more families.

What qualities does a parent befriender need?

The most important thing about a befriender is that they have experienced for themselves what it means to have a disabled child. Their experience and understanding are invaluable to other parents of disabled children.

As a befriender you will need to be a good listener, to respect other people and empathise with their emotions, to be genuinely warm, encouraging and patient.

Training is offered to help befrienders in their role, but many of the personal qualities needed are very simple and natural.