In my grant proposal, I am asking for funds to create and fuel a trauma-informed prenatal care community class for pregnant women in Alachua, Bradford, Columbia, Putnam, and Union counties that focuses on primary level prevention of ACEs. In my proposal, I focus on the importance of incorporating the skills learned from implementing trauma-informed principles into every day life, and the importance of ensuring the baby arrives in a stable, safe, and nurturing environment. Enforcing primary level prevention of ACEs through education at communty prenatal classes for these women would be very beneficial in these counties, due to poor third trimester prenatal care statistics according to FL Health Charts (FLHealthCHARTS, 2017). This program would recruit pregnant women in the mentioned 5 counties, and would last the duration of their pregnancy after recruitment. In the following paragraphs, I will write about the social ecological model levels, public health framework, and trauma informed care principles that this grant intends to utilize.
Level(s) of the Social Ecological Model (SEM)
This program will hit on several levels of the CDC’s Social Ecological Model (SEM), including the individual, relationship, and community levels (CDC, 2019). All of these levels will be touched by the project of the trauma informed prenatal and maternal health care community classes due to the nature of how they will be offered to the expected mothers in Alachua, Bradford, Columbia, Putnam, and Union counties. The idea of a community group class is inclusive for women to learn and grow as a whole, while also education on an individual and relationship level as well.
At the individual level, the expecting mother will be impacted through the interactions she has with the other mothers who are involved in the community class (according to the Trauma-Informed Philanthropy Guide,it is better and more effective for individuals to learn in a community setting where they are connected with others rather than learning while isolated) as well as working with the medical professionals that will be running the class itself.
The relationship level of the SEM will be addressed through the involvement of partners to the expecting women to be involved in their prenatal and maternal health care classes. We do think this actually will be very beneficial if the partner is involved while learning about trauma informed care because of the extended knowledge of the care, and creating a stable and nurturing home for the baby together. This will be a key component. If the partner decides to not partake in the community class, the relationship level of the SEM is still addressed through the relationships that the women will develop with one another through their journey of prenatal care.
Finally, as mentioned above, the community level will be addressed through the nature in which the class is being implemented – the community. The environment and setting where the class will be implemented will have a positive impact on the community that these women live in, whether it be in Alachua, Bradford, Columbia, Putnam, or Union county. We believe that changing the county in a positive way – especially in regards to ACEs – with trauma informed care, starts with the women who are bringing the children into the county. If the women are being educated in a trauma-informed way and are learning about creating a stable, safe and nurturing home for their baby to be brought into, while also receiving their prenatal care and maternal health checkups all brought together in the form of a community class, there will be great changes in the future.
Trauma Informed Principles the Grant Will Utilize
Although we expect to utilize every principle that is listed in the Trauma-Informed Philanthropy Guide, the following principles that will be utilized most in the program include peer support and mutual self help, collaboration and mutuality, and empowerment voice and choice. Each of these principles will help make this program successful, and each are unique in their own ways, and the ways in which we will utilize them.
It is no surprise that the principle of peer support and mutual self-help is going to play an incredibly important part in this program. The basis of the community classes is to educate these women and encourage them to grow, and be informed so that they are making the best of the care they are receiving, and the information they are learning, in order to bring a baby into a stable, safe and nurturing home and life. Women will have the opportunity at each class to communicate with their peers, and with the health professionals that will be running the class, share their stories, talk about their challenges, successes, and be able to learn from and support one another. Again, this is the best setting to implement trauma-informed care, in a community.
Empowerment, voice, and choice go hand in hand with the above principle that are we going to spend a lot of time focusing on. We expect that most of our patients in these classes are going to be first-time mothers, and we realize that finding their voice, making the right choice, and allowing them to recognize their own empowerment are going to be important factors along their pregnancy journey. Through constant support – peer, self, and professional – we hope to empower these women to find their voices and be inspired to learn and apply the knowledge they gain through this class into their lives for the rest of their, and their baby’s lives. The impact of the trauma-informed care approach is strong enough to last the child and the mother’s lifetime, and hopefully continue on if their child also wishes to have a baby.
Lastly, collaboration and mutuality is going to come naturally in the community class setting. All of the women in our classes are going to have a very important mutual factor – they are expecting to bring a child into this world. Another way in which this principle will be utilized through collaboration is that we are going to be encouragingthese women to support one another and learn from one another, and collaboration is going to be key in the success of that. Collaboration is going to be fundamental in the basis of even the structure of this class, and the class wouldn’t be able to work without it.
Public Health Framework
This program will utilize public health framework to the fullest. Taking the public health upstream approach in focusing on preventing ACEs and trauma rather than using the “disease-centric” focus (Trauma Informed Philanthropy Guide) and responding once it has already happened, we will be ahead of the game, from the very start (literally – from birth!). As mentioned above, one of the main beliefs we have about this program is that we need to start somewhere with the ways in which we are preventing ACEs and trauma occurring, early in life as well as later down the road. Not only do webelieve that this is possible if we start with mom, but according to the CDC and the ACE Pyramid (CDC, 2019), from conception all the way through and individual’s life until death, ACEs will play a significant role and be present the whole time. ACEs influence health and well being from the time a baby is a born, and can result in early death (CDC), which is why our program is in place as a form of primary prevention to ensure that the ACEs do not happen before they even have the opportunity to, through teaching mom how to make sure she provides a safe, stable, and nurturing environment for her and her baby. These skills, along with teaching mom about empowerment and voice, and having her recognize her ability to change any negative situation she is placed in, along with many others, will build up her tool box to be the best mother she can to ensure ACEs are not a part of her child’s life.
Starting with expecting mothers in a community prenatal and maternal health class that is trauma informed is starting at the root of the problem and is preventive in itself. We are going to educate these mothers on what a nurturing, safe, loving, and stable home is like – whether they grew up in a home like that or not – and how they can take what they learn from our program to ensure baby is happy, healthy, and safe. We are not necessarily disguising the trauma informed aspect of this class by also pairing this education with prenatal care and prenatal education, as well as maternal health education, but tying it all together so that these women are understanding about themselves and baby in a trauma informed way, and a successfulway.
- Essentials for Childhood Framework|Child Abuse and Neglect|Violence Prevention|Injury Center|CDC. (2019, March 5). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/violencepr...lect/essentials.html
- FL Health CHARTS, Retrieved from http://www.flhealthcharts.com/...dHealth/default.aspx
- About the CDC-Kaiser ACE Study |Violence Prevention|Injury Center|CDC. (2019, April 2). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/violencepr.../acestudy/about.html
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