Free baby group for young Jersey parents launched

Monday, 8 July 2024 11:00

A free baby and toddler group is being launched for young parents in Jersey.

This is being launched by the YES project, which is funded by the Jersey Youth Trust.

It's for parents up to 25 years of age to get to know other mums and dads in the same position, as well as access support and gain skills.

The group, which will be based in St Helier, will be free of charge.

It will offer young parents a weekly play group for their little ones and also access to courses on baby first aid, massage and weaning.

Attendees will also be able to access free counselling and support from youth workers.

Senior Youth Worker Rebecca Brown - who's running the project - hopes young parents will get a lot out of the group:

"Becoming a new mum myself a couple of years ago, going to those mother-and-baby groups, a lot of them were mothers, so there wasn't too much out there for fathers.

"There also seemed to be really the same age of people there, so the idea of this project is to reach out to young people up to the age of 25, so they can make friends with people in similar situations to them, that are their age.

"Baby first aid courses are quite expensive, new parents might need support with funding towards that and we have secured that funding.

"There will also be opportunities for young parents to engage with the YES-trained counsellors.

"It will be a safe space for parents to pop out and just have a quick chat with a counsellor, talk about what's going on.

"We hope this will help as being a new parent can be quite daunting."