Young mothers and their babies will benefit from work to transform health and social services to be even more integrated and coordinated.

Nicola Austin, Chair of the Child and Youth Workstream said mothers under 19 years are a particularly vulnerable group in our community.

“The Canterbury Health System is working to ensure that services for pregnant women, babies, children and families are high quality and meeting the needs of those that are vulnerable and at risk.

“We want to look closely at what we wrap around these young mothers to support them from early in pregnancy through the birth and care of their babies as they grow.”

As part of this work, a workshop was held at the Design Lab on 31 March to look at how current services could be enhanced to improve the outcomes for young mums and their babies.

Participants from across health, education, the NGO sector, Māori and Pacific providers, the New Zealand College of Midwives and the Ministry of Social Development came together to discuss what is already working well and where improvements can be made.

Canterbury District Health Board Information Analyst, Neroli Nicholson presented data around services for young mothers and babies, explaining the current access trends in Canterbury.

In a montage of interviews with young mums shown on the day, one young mum’s comments attracted nods from the crowd: “I was put in a box because I was a young parent. People assumed that I didn’t know what I was doing. In my view, age doesn’t make a mother.”  

“It was really positive to hear such open, honest accounts from young mothers who have experienced antenatal, childbirth and postnatal care in Canterbury,” Nicola said.

“This workshop was an opportunity to discuss how the support services could be even better coordinated and tailored to be ‘young mother and baby’ centered.”

“I’m confident that everyone who participated in the discussions walked away with an even better appreciation of how health and social services can work together to make the experience even better for young mothers.”

The findings from this workshop will inform the next steps to transforming services for young mothers and their babies. This will include a focus group of young mothers to test and enhance the ideas for service redesign.