‘About Support for Volunteers’

Support for Volunteers has been created by the team at Refugee Host Support. We are an organisation established by passionate people with over 25 years of international experience in supporting those who help others, giving them security, care and hope. Volunteers are always active at the heart of every UK community. So, we take the time to support them and celebrate them.

Our background is providing foster care to vulnerable children and young adults and supporting those with the challenging and rewarding task of caring for them. We created Refugee Host Support and Support for Volunteers as we believe the knowledge and skills accrued over decades is invaluable as we support those who have opened their homes to refugee families and those who support others in the community.

Jan Rees OBE

Management
A foster carer herself, Jan has devoted over 40 years of her life to the care of children and young people in the UK. Jan Rees is widely considered a pioneer in developing therapeutic foster care services and specialist support for children and families, not just in the UK but around the world.
Luke Chapman

Management
A senior social work manager with over 30 years’ experience. Luke has worked in the statutory, commercial, and voluntary sectors. Luke has successfully led many services including those providing services to children in care, care leavers and refugees. His driving passion is supporting those who support others.
Kerry Beattie

Management
Kerry spent many years teaching in primary and secondary schools often supporting children with additional learning needs. She worked for 10 years within social care as a practitioner and manager. Kerry has an in-depth understanding of local authority governance, leadership and commissioning procedures. This knowledge has been invaluable when she joined Refugee Host Support enabling us to work directly with teams responsible for supporting refugees, host families as well as the many volunteers working within organisations across the UK.
Nicole Berry

Management
Nicole has over 25 years experience working with children and families as a practitioner and service manager and is an independent member of the British Association of Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP).
Nicole was awarded the 'Team of the Year' at the National Social Worker Awards in 2019 for Family Group Conferencing services and Lifelong Links delivered to children and their families, enabling their voice to be heard and empowering them to be a crucial part of the decision making process; thus making a significant difference to those in need.
Nicole is passionate about organisations being trauma informed and as a trained counsellor understands the need for anyone working with children and young people to increase awareness of trauma in refugee and asylum-seekers. She feels strongly about providing comprehensive support to each host family as they arrive and to the children and young people in the years that follow.
Claire Banner MCIPD

Associate
Claire is a Human Resources and Training manager, and a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
She has been involved in fostering organisations in the capacity of operational management for over 20 years at a senior level, working in both private, public, and charitable organisations in the UK and abroad.
She serves on a charity board as a Trustee.
Claire is an accredited Mental Health First Aid instructor through Mental Health First Aid England specialising in youth and adult mental health. Her childhood experiences have focused her passion and drive to bring about a positive difference in the lives of children and young people.
Phil Harper

Associate
A teacher and coach with over 20 years of experience in education and community development. He has worked with diverse groups of teenagers and adults in educational and community settings. He loves to support people and groups to find their voice. His passion as a coach with Compassion Capital is to empower people to discover their voice and their purpose.

Our service partners

Refugee Host Support

Refugee Host Support is an organisation established by passionate people with over 25 years of international experience in supporting households to welcome strangers into their homes, giving them security, care and hope.
Refugee Host provides services to hosts and guests designed to recruit, retain and reward hosts and to strengthen, support and sustain guests as they transition to independence.
Spectrum Life

Spectrum.Life currently provides mental health and wellbeing support to members of over 2,000 organisations across Ireland and the UK, with a total of over 4 million active users. We focus on clinical efficacy and outcomes as our prime responsibility. We do this by providing or enabling best-in-class services, delivered by fully accredited, experienced professionals through our in-house built technology.
Trauma Informed Services

At Trauma Informed Services we support organisations to become trauma informed so staff, carers or volunteers can recognise trauma, and respond in a way that avoids harm, supports recovery, and promotes individual resilience. By developing safety, trust, promoting choice, prioritising collaboration, and empowerment, we can minimise re-traumatisation. This will improve engagement in services and ultimately improve quality of life for individuals.