The women who will be our priority include: 

• Teenage/Young Mums
• First Nations people
• Experiencing financial difficulty eg. homelessness, unemployment 
• Minimal partner support eg. single parenting, DV 
• Mental health diagnoses 
• Substance misuse  
• Recently migrated, without access to Medicare or private health insurance
• All women (not limited to these categories) are welcome to get in touch for support in decision making around pregnancy options. 

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‍Pregnancy confirmation and discussion re options – free pregnancy testing, non-diagnostic ultrasound and non-directive pregnancy options counselling to help a woman with an unexpected pregnancy work out the way forward.  

Welcome Gift Packs – all women who engage with FSPS for their pregnancy care will be given a welcome gift pack which includes gifts and vouchers from local businesses as well as a voucher for our own Baby Boutique.

Baby Boutique – to give women with minimal funds the dignity of being able to shop for their baby. The boutique will be used as a rewards program with vouchers being issued to the women that engage with our programs.  It will also periodically be open to the public as a source of income for FSPS, depending on stock levels. 

Medical and nursing appointments – Antenatal appointments will be provided by our GP Obstetrician with midwifery and maternal/child health nurse appointments also taking place throughout the week.  

Drop-in times for coffee and a chat to encourage peer support and informal contact with health professionals.  Open to both pregnant and newly parenting women in need of additional support. Opportunity for pregnancy advice, to weigh the baby or to get support with feeding, sleeping and settling.   

Story Time – we will have a strong focus on early literacy at FSPS with Mums of all stages and babies of all ages (even before birth!) being encouraged to love reading. We will have a collection of beautiful children’s books and comfy chairs for women to come in and spend as long as they like sitting and reading to their baby.  

Networking and referrals – there are many fantastic local services with much to offer pregnant and parenting women in challenging circumstances. We will both accept referrals from other organisations and link in our women with external services as required to ensure they have the comprehensive wraparound care they need. 

Birth and Parenting Classes – First Steps Birthing will resume in a modified form for women engaged with our service. It will also be offered to couples external to FSPS (at a cost) as a source of income for FSPS as has been done successfully in the past. Future class dates will be determined by level of interest so please register for our waitlist if you would like to attend our First Steps Birthing classes. See here for more information.

Post-Partum Meal Provision – We will have a large fridge/freezer that we hope to have filled with nutritious meals for women who have just given birth. Meeting this simple need is such a great blessing for new Mamas who are navigating the first hours and days with their newborn.  

Pepi-Pod Safe Sleep Spaces – We are thankful to have been approved by the NZ founding organisation as ‘PepiPod’ providers and have received the required training to enable us to offer this program. In combination with education provided by our midwife, Pepi-Pods will be given to women with babies who are particularly vulnerable to ensure they have a safe place to sleep. 

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Future Services:

• Case Management/Social Worker – our lovely social worker will begin in May 2024 after she returns after Maternity Leave. We will make do without her until then, with the rest of the team trying to fill this gap as best as we can! 

• Mental Health Counselling – this will have a particular focus on grief associated with past pregnancy loss or birth trauma for the women engaged with our service. 

• Workshops - on a variety of life skills and topics relevant to pregnancy and parenting.  These will be run by local professionals in the relevant area of discussion.  This may include budgeting, meal planning, respectful relationships, understanding your body, feeding fussy toddlers, first aid and much more.  

• Rotation of Visiting Services – some examples of who we hope to include: Centrelink, local legal services, social housing organisations, Campbell Page Young Mums program, CCCares and many more. We will invite these social service providers to come and visit for a few hours during a time that we are open for drop-in so that women can directly link with these organisations by visiting FSPS for a coffee and chat.

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