£600 could make all the difference to young parents in Harrow...

Hi, I'm Kim and I'm mum to Riley (aged 2). I became a mum when I turned 21. Becoming a first time parent can be very daunting if you have no support. Then the fact I was a 'young', single mum meant I often felt like I didn't fit in with the other parents that used the services available to me locally and very few of my own friends had children. When I searched for a young parents support group there was nothing. I was lucky and found a wonderful and accepting community of parents who embraced me and my son - but I often think of other young parents who aren't so lucky and who raise their children feeling very isolated. 

My goal is to set up a support group for all local parents under the age of 25. I want to help give them an opportunity to meet and gain support from other people who may share similar life experiences. I also hope that the parents who join the group will gain the confidence to access all the other fantastic services Harrow has to offer for young children - such as the local children's centres, health visiting clinics, libraries, playgroups and breastfeeding support. I see so many young parents when I am out and about in Harrow but I see very few accessing local children's amenities.

I am also an outreach worker for a local organisation where I help support younger mothers to breastfeed their babies. This is what sparked my inspiration to start a support group for all young mothers, not just those that I meet through my breastfeeding peer support work. You can see more about my campaign to promote breastfeeding among young parents in a film I've made about breastfeeding with ITV's Fixers: http://www.fixers.org.uk/news/9183-11208/breastfeeding-fix-on-itv.php. It will be featured on the ITV news between 6 and 6.30pm on Thursday 3rd April - and afterwards you can view it on youtube.

A note from Harrow NCT

Kim has been volunteering with us since she had Riley and is now a trained peer supporter with Breastfeeding in Harrow. But we usually find that younger parents do not come along to most of the activities we organise, and other groups and services in Harrow find the same. It's not surprising when you think about it - it must be pretty intimidating going along to groups when everyone else is ten years older and living (seemingly) very different lives. We'd love to be able to support Kim to get an Under 25s group going. Our target is £600 - which we've ring-fenced to this project. It will pay for the group, run by Kim and other volunteers, to get up and running for at least a year. The more we raise, the more we can do.

If you'd like more information about our plans for the group, you can contact us (and Kim) at under25s@harrownct.org.uk 

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