Patricia Leeds Photography

Every Mother Matters

Every Mother Matters, because she is shaping not only her own life, but the lives of our next generation.  In honor of Mother’s Day, Brighter Beginnings invites you to help the mothers in our community by honoring the mothers in your life, click here to donate and honor your mother or special memory. 

At Brighter Beginnings, we serve over 2,000 mothers each year.  Most are single parents, all are very low income.  Half of our moms are teen moms.    The challenges they face every day are daunting, and their strengths are inspiring.  Moms like Kenia demonstrate the capacity of teens to survive and thrive, even when faced with the extra challenge of early pregnancy. 

Our Teen Family Support program provides home visitors (we call them Family Advocates) who work with each teen mom to help her design a plan for how she can achieve her own growth and goals, while also learning how to nurture her baby.

At Brighter Beginnings we know that strengthening Mothers has many variables.  For example, did you know that, the most risky time to become mentally unwell is after having a baby?  Depression is the leading cause of disease related disability among women. Depression during the perinatal period can have devastating consequences, not only for the women experiencing it but also for the women’s children and family.

All of the staff at Brighter Beginnings are trained to screen for perinatal depression. In Alameda County, we have clinicians who work with women and their children and families, helping them to understand, resolve and manage the underlying stressors that so often are the spark points for depression and anxiety.  Our clinicians are trained in understanding how a mother’s depression or other mental distress can impact the development of their baby.  We also provide dyadic therapy for moms and infants and toddlers in our Brighter Beginnings Family Counseling Program .

Did you know that African American women are three times more likely to have pregnancy and birth complications than Caucasian women?  Alarmingly, the statistics are getting worse.  Brighter Beginnings has a special program in Contra Costa County to engage and support African American pregnant moms.  Our Black Infant Health program provides Nurturing Parenting support groups, using the evidenced based parenting curriculum developed by Dr. Steven Bavolek (http://www.nurturingparenting.com/)
 
Did you know:  The child of a mother who finishes college is twice as likely to recognize letters in kindergarten than one whose mother lacks a high school education. Every Mother Matters, because she is shaping not only her own life, but the lives of our next generation.  The overall health – and wealth - of our mothers will impact the next generation of workers, and ultimately the economy of our nation.  The connections between poverty and children’s development, and eventual wages, were recently highlighted by a panel experts from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Early Childhood Poverty Impacts Productivity, Health.

That’s why Brighter Beginnings has launched an aggressive strategy to deploy Financial Education and Asset Building strategies throughout our organization.  Read about our new Strengthening Families imitative in our Spring newsletter.