Teenage Parents: Support 4 U

The Northern Trust is raising awareness of the specialist role of the Teenage Pregnancy Mmidwife Service to ensure young mothers in the Causeway and Mid Ulster areas get tailored support. A workshop was held to enable those attending to find out more about the initiative and to ensure they know how to signpost to the service and that mothers and their partners have access to a full range of support throughout their pregnancy and postnatal care.

This service is funded by the Public Health Agency with young parents across the Causeway and Mid-Ulster areas benefiting from its support. Support includes both group and one-to-one engagement through home visits, texts and phone calls.

The service aims to ensure that young mums have a healthy pregnancy, improve their child’s health and development and to ensure that the young mums know how to plan their own futures and achieve their ambitions.

One young mum commented, ‘The telephone support is really great. Just knowing that there is someone there on the other end of the phone to guide me when I need it gives me peace of mind.’

The Teenage Pregnancy Midwife Service was developed to provide specialist programmes of support for teenage parents throughout and after their pregnancy. They will discuss areas such as personal health, how to feed and care for your baby and keep it safe

The service also aims to ensure that teenage mothers have greater access to family planning and sexual health services and advice. Young people will also have an increased awareness of health related issues and be much more knowledgeable in relation to pregnancy, labour and parenting.

Another key aspect of the initiative is that young parents are able to meet each other and provide support to one another. One young mum found the service valuable and commented ‘I found the antenatal classes really helpful and totally wouldn’t have gone if it wasn’t for the young-parent classes.’

Teenage mothers should be aged 19 years or under at the time of booking and currently residing in the Causeway and the Mid Ulster localities. For more information on the teenage pregnancy midwife service please contact Jacqueline Robinson on 028 703 25470 or email jacqueline.robinson@northerntrust.hscni.net.

Related links
Pregnancy information

 

Pictured:

BR – Adele Fulton, NEELB SAM’s Project; Sharon Bingham, Health Improvement, Northern Trust; Karen Cox, Dalriada Rural Surestart; Mary Tennyson, Barnardos, Cookstown

FR – Rosemary Kerr, Breastfeeding/Parentcraft Co-ordinator, Northern Trust; Cary Jossart, Coleraine Surestart; Denise Bennett, Teenage Pregnancy Midwife, Northern Trust; Kerry Bate, Dalriada Surestart and Mary Duggan, Gold Surestart, Cookstown

21st February 2014