Family Friends is a registered charity set up in 1993 to support disadvantaged families. Through a network of trained volunteers we provide befriending and mentoring services. We help families living in deprived areas of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham and South East Brent. Through respect, encouragement and support, we aim to ‘help families to help themselves’; to discover their strengths and build on their coping skills. Family Friends carefully recruits, trains and matches volunteers with parents, children or adolescents. Volunteers meet the family in their home, once a week for two hours. They offer long-term practical and emotional help based on each family's unique needs and potential. Volunteers pledge a year's commitment and Family Friends' staff back up their work with on-going supervision and family feedback interviews.