Creating a safe space for your kinship peer support group. Practical tips and tools to help you set up you group and make it feel inclusive.
Section 2B: Leading a kinship peer support group – the responsibilities
If you’re setting up a kinship peer support group, you’re generally called a ‘Support Group Leader’. Here we talk about what that means – your commitment and responsibilities.
Becoming a kinship peer support group leader – commitment and roles
What it means to be a Support Group Leader
Setting up any peer support group takes commitment and passion. You’ll need to make sure you’re in a good place to be able to take on the responsibility.
As you start to set up your group, you’ll meet other kinship carers who might be interested in taking on some of the ‘jobs’ to help the group.
When we say ‘jobs’ we’re mainly talking about the organising part of the role. Things like, welcoming newcomers to the groups or making sure you have a good venue. Your venue might be online or one locally in a hall, a café or somewhere else. We have other resources in our Kinship Peer Support Group Library to help you decide and find those venues.
What is it really like to lead a group?
Meet Sharon, Gillian, Carol, Keith and Gillian. They’re all kinship carers and run, or are setting up groups in their local area. Find out how they see their role and why they do it.
Duration: 4 mins.
Main role of a group leader
As a support group leader your role is mainly to:
- oversee the smooth running of your group and make sure group members feel safe and welcomed
- promote your group and recruit other kinship carers
- be responsible for deciding the structure of your group initially – if it’s online or face to face, and if it’s for a particular group of kinship carers (like grandparents, male kinship carers, kinship carers under 35 and other themes)
- keep the group going and be the point of contact for the kinship carers in your group and those who’d like to join
The type of skills which will be helpful as a group leader
As a support group leader setting up a kinship group, usually you’ll need to:
- be a kinship carer, have been a kinship carer or have personal experience of supporting kinship carers (family member, close friend, or kin-child)
- be someone who can sensitively reflect on and share their experiences in a way that supports and empowers other kinship carers, without giving advice
- be able to build a trusted relationship with people and put them at ease
- be able to communicate well using email, text and other tools like WhatsApp or Facebook messaging and other social media
- have access to a telephone and a computer with the internet or a smart phone
- be someone that feels confident to run a group and facilitate sometimes difficult discussions, and will act where necessary for the purposes of safety and inclusion
Time commitment
The frequency and length of your support group is up to you and your group. Groups normally run for around one or two hours and can meet weekly, fortnightly, or monthly. The amount of time you need to give will vary depending on what you choose.
You’ll need to be available to attend the group for each meeting or delegate to someone else if you are unable to. The other person will be someone you trust and who your group will trust.
Outside of the meeting, you will need to put time aside to communicate with the kinship carers who are part of your group. This could be on email, text or part of a WhatsApp group or Facebook group.
When you’re thinking about how much time you can give, things you’ll need to do include:
- finding a good venue, making sure it meets the needs of your kinship carers
- time to promote your group to other kinship carers (this might mean putting up posters locally or chatting to your local authority)
- communication before the group meets including answering questions about the meetings, how to join, travel and transport which might be a couple of hours before the group
- on the actual day of the group, remind people where and when the group is taking place, welcome members to the group and make sure it’s all running smoothly (taking a register)
- if your group on online, you might need to help other kinship carers join using their mobiles, laptops or tablets
- any admin after your group, responding to questions, finding a new date to meet and other jobs
Actually I need support to do this – can you help?
If you are thinking of starting a group and want some support to know how to do it or where to start, then Kinship can help if you’re based in England.
By volunteering as a Peer Support Group Leader you can receive free training and direct support from a Kinship Volunteer Coordinator to get your group off the ground and take on your role as Group Leader.
There are kinship peer support groups all over England and Wales and they all started somewhere by passionate people. We want to give you the chance to get going, but with some support along the way.
Going to a group is life changing for a lot of kinship carers – a space they feel truly understood. So if you’re based in England, the Department for Education has funded us to help kinship carers who are ready to start a group online or in person.
I’m based in England, what are the next steps?
The easiest thing to do is to chat to our friendly Kinship team. We have an ‘expression of interest form’ which takes less than 10 minutes to fill in, and a Volunteer Coordinator will contact within five working days to set up a time to chat.
It’s very informal and no pressure to commit. We’d love to chat through how we can help you.
You can read more about the role as Kinship Volunteer Peer Support Group Leader.