The “Nurture” project provides pregnancy support and “nurturing” for pregnant women and new mothers experiencing homelessness. It provides support, education and care for the women by ensuring they engage in good perinatal care (pre and post birth). As well as learning important life skills such as budgeting, baby care and self care.

This specific project is done through individualised and group support in our centre in Dublin and in emergency accommodation such as Hubs and Hostels. It allows us to intervene early with more women in this vulnerable situation and to empower them to return to education or work.

The Nurture project builds on pregnancy support and “nurturing” for pregnant women and new mothers experiencing homelessness.

We aim to support pregnant women and new mothers who we cannot accommodate in our supported accommodation. The women we work with may be living in hostels, sofa surfing, in tents and cars! They do not have the facilities and sometimes the knowledge to care for themselves while pregnant. Due to lack of capacity in our accommodation we cannot house many of the women but we can make things easier.

Anew works using a trauma-informed model of care and for the women in this project the main objectives are:

1) To support pregnant women and new mothers experiencing homelessness on a one to one basis practically by ensuring they care for themselves through healthy eating, self-care and nurturing.

2) To provide information and support around pre-natal and post-natal care from our qualified Midwife Social Care Worker and linking in with the Maternity Hospitals and other supports.

3) To reduce the isolation and stress felt by pregnant women and new mothers who find themselves homeless and isolated from any support system (often as a direct result of their pregnancy).

As a result of the work done in the project we expect the following outcomes:

1) Women experiencing homelessness and complex issues in their lives have healthy, happy pregnancies despite the trauma of their situations.

2) Healthy women and babies who are availing of ongoing peri-natal care and specialised supports for their specific needs.

3) Networks of pregnant women and new mothers supporting each other through difficult times.

Ultimately we provide the women with the tools and supports to begin their journey of motherhood, they are empowered to follow their hopes and dreams empowering the women to returned to education and/or employment.

We work with a range of external stakeholders including Tusla, Central Placement Services, Maternity Hospitals, Medical Social Workers, Domestic Abuse services, Teen Parent Support Programme, Local Authorities, Other Homeless services and other NGOs.

We actively engage with Tusla Dublin North & South Child and Family Support Networks to offer our services. We are part of and engage on a regular basis with Dublin’s Homeless Network and we are a member of Treoir. We are currently developing a working group with the Inclusion Health Senior Medical Social Workers to collaborate around the needs of our primary beneficiaries.

We are here to support you on your journey, no matter what that journey may look like.

If you find yourself in any of the above situations and need help, we are here for you.

Contact us for confidential support today.