Staff from the Family Nurse Partnership (south) team, have received a Big Shout Out for their supportive approach to empowering young mums and their new families.
Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) is a home visiting programme for first-time young parents and families.
The Family Nurse Partnership programme is tailored to meet the specific needs of young parents and supports families until the child turns 2 years old.
Joanna Dempsey, supervisor for the Family Nurse Partnership (South), said: “The Family Nurse Partnership is a licenced home visiting programme for young first time mums in Scotland. If you are 19 and under and pregnant with your first baby, you’re eligible to have a family nurse.
“We start working with clients in early pregnancy until their child is two years old. It’s an evidence based programme that’s shown to improve outcomes for mum’s and their children.”
Debbie Mycek, supervisor for the Family Nurse Partnership (South), said: “Usually the Family Nurse will introduce themselves to the client early in pregnancy and It’s an intense home visiting programme. The initial programme involves weekly visits to start building up what we call a therapeutic relationship with the client. We can cover any supports around housing, signposting, health related advice.
“As we go along in the pregnancy phase, our visiting pattern changes and the frequency decreases. It’s really hoped that we deliver a full programme of visits through pregnancy phase to then move into infancy phase after the child’s born, until up until toddlerhood, until the child is two”
Feedback indicates that clients value the relationship that they build with their family nurse.
The programme uses motivational interviewing to support clients to develop their own solutions to problems and helping them move forward.
Debbie added: “I think our nurses go above and beyond for our population of clients. They certainly really value the relationships that they build with the families.
“Although there’s a therapeutic relationship with the client, there’s a lot of work that goes on with the families and the extended families.”
Joanna added: “It’s lovely to see how the clients flourish from when you start working with them during the early stages of pregnancy to two and a half years later. We call it graduation from the programme.
“There’s so many of them that go to college or, achieve their goals with regards to employment. There is a lot of focus at the beginning of the journey about what their heart’s desire is for their future. What their lifetime aspirations are. We look at how the Family Nurse Partnership can support them to be able to achieve these goals through the time that we work with them.”
The Big Shout Out praises NHS Lanarkshire teams for taking an innovative, creative, and patient-centered approach to working, and recognizes the unique contribution staff make to overcoming the challenges faced across the entire healthcare system.
