Volunteer Support For New Mums Project Seeks Interested Volunteers

CPS has renamed the Doula Project to the Volunteer Support for New Mums project to illustrate through the name what and who the project is trying to provide support for.

A grant of $270,710 from long-time CPS supporter, the Ian Potter Foundation, will allow a new generation of Volunteers to share their wisdom with women and mothers in Melbourne’s north.

The CPS Volunteer Support for New Mums Project will see CPS and supporting partner, the Mercy Hospital for Women, matching interested women with volunteers to offer support and guidance during pregnancy and into the baby’s early years.

Interested women will be referred from the Mercy Hospital for Women’s Social Work Department and other Clinics that provide support to vulnerable mothers-to-be for a successful transition into parenthood. The Volunteer Support for New Mums Project will provide a continuum of social care for these mothers and babies into their early years, with a focus on both parenting and connecting to the community.

Work has started on this exciting new CPS project: and the recruitment of volunteers from within the community, in partnership with existing volunteer organisations such as Volunteers of Banyule has begun.

The CPS Volunteer Support for New Mums Project complements the CPS suite of programs providing a comprehensive approach to supporting vulnerable children and families. The CPS is delighted to reinvigorate the concept of volunteers and to increase the ways of sustaining women and their children throughout our communities.

Chief executive officer for CPS Bernadette Burchell is excited about the start of this new volunteer project ‘‘It will provide an extra dimension of support to vulnerable families in our community so that children get the best possible start to life.”

To learn more about the Volunteer Support for New Mums Project or to become involved, please contact Michelle Hawke, Volunteer coordinator 9450 0900, mhawke@cps.org.au For more information about this project or other CPS services www.cps.org.au

For more information on The Ian Potter Foundation: www.ianpotter.org.au