How Centering Pregnancy Has Transformed How Our Teen Moms Receive Maternal Care

For our young expectant moms, medical care is not something that they have always been familiar with. Many of the young women that come into our shelter are familiar with long wait lines at free clinics, lack of insurance, and relying on emergency room visits instead of routine doctor’s visits.

This is why our new program, Centering Pregnancy, is incredibly beneficial to the young moms who live at Good Shepherd. Centering has transformed how our young moms receive prenatal care.

What is Centering, exactly? Centering is an evidence-based model of group healthcare that brings medical care to our moms. We are partnered with Mercy to provide this care, and have worked with an incredible team of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers who connect our moms with the highest quality of care. This care is trauma informed, sensitive to the unique needs of the young women who are in our care.

Each month, the team of medical professionals from Mercy meets at Good Shepherd to provide routine checkups and spend individual time with each expectant mom. After each young woman has had her checkup, there is a group discussion of information like delivery, breast feeding, healthy relationships, and more. Each mom receives a healthy snack and has time to talk to her doctor – and peers – about concerns in pregnancy. These meetings happen after school, so our young moms to be don’t need to miss classes, and they don’t need to arrange for transportation.

Centering Pregnancy has reduced our young moms’ reliance on the emergency room, has prevented them from missing prenatal appointments, and has helped our moms to be informed about their pregnancies and motherhood. We are so thankful to Mercy and for our staff who has worked tirelessly to make this program a success!