A new drop-in service for pregnant women and women with children up to the age of two starts next week.
Birth and Beyond Community Support (BBCS) is a Lottery funded project run by the NCT in Lincolnshire.
The service is run by experienced volunteer local mums who have been trained to offer peer support.
The volunteers are non-advisory and can offer a listening ear, let visitors know about local services or accompany them to local groups and clinics. No appointment is necessary.
Sarah-Jane Richens, Perinatal Peer Support Project Manager – Lincolnshire, said of the support offered: “Support can be providing a listening ear, accompanying mums to groups or appointments or helping them access services.
“The mums may be feeling lonely, isolated or perhaps be new to the area and be unsure of where to go with their children.
“Our volunteers are non-advisory and the service is completely free and confidential.
“The service is universal meaning that any mum can use it, the only mums we cannot support are those currently receiving support from the Adult Mental Health team, Drug & Alcohol team or who have a child on a Child Protection plan.
“These mums would instead be signposted on to the relevant services.”
The drop-ins are being held at Welland Workplace, 10 Pinchbeck Road,Spalding, PE11 1QD (opposite St John’s Ambulance) on the following Wednesdays between 10.30am-12.30pm: January 22/29, February 5/12/19 and March 4.
The volunteers began their training in October 2019 and under the tutelage of an NCT Practitioner received a Level 2 Accreditation.