Getting First-Time Parents Off to a Good Start
Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) is a non-profit community health organization that partners specially trained nurses with high-risk young women who are pregnant for the first time. Starting early in pregnancy and continuing until the child is two years old, the nurses visit regularly to coach participants in all the basics of becoming and being a great parent – everything from getting prenatal care, learning to breastfeed, and choosing a car seat to finding housing assistance and job training.
With more than 40 years of experience keeping parents and children healthy and safe, NFP is such a success that it’s the literal gold standard of home visits for prospective and new parents. Still, the organization is always looking for additional tools to reach, enroll, and retain the families who are most likely to benefit from NFP services, and to support the nurses who serve them. That’s what led NFP to Health Journeys.
“Evidence shows that meditation and mindfulness practices can reduce stress and increase resiliency,” said Kate Siegrist, Chief Nursing Officer. “We know that one of the primary reasons nurses leave NFP is burnout. The moms and families we serve are experiencing multiple adversities and lack access to resources for stress reduction. Working with Health Journeys to make these resources accessible is an innovative way for us to respond to their needs.”
All of NFP’s 2,400 nurses, and the more than 39,000 families they serve across the US, now have free access to a web page that streams multiple Health Journeys guided meditations on demand. The audios, in both English and Spanish, are available any time, anywhere, from any phone, tablet, or computer with an Internet connection.
“We were deeply impressed with Health Journeys’ strong evidence base and experience working with health-focused organizations, including large health systems such as Kaiser Permanente and the Mayo Clinic,” Siegrist pointed out. “We also appreciated their willingness to engage with us to create a tailored experience for our nurses and enrolled moms, and to target Spanish translation to increase access.”
