Newham Nurture for professionals

Learn about the Newham Nurture programme, our approach to co-production, how to refer a client and how we support our clients.

About the Newham Nurture programme

The Newham Nurture programme is a community partnership with NCT, Alternatives Trust, The Magpie Project and Compost London. The programme supports women through pregnancy and up to two years post birth in the London Borough of Newham.

The partnership expands perinatal support across the borough, promoting the health and wellbeing of women from low income, migrant and marginalised backgrounds experiencing financial hardship and disadvantage.

The programme has a strong focus on accessibility and inclusion. It provides a targeted and meaningful response to the specific barriers and challenges marginalised women face in gaining support and engaging with perinatal services.

Co-production

With a co-production focus at its heart, the programme has a steering group comprising of local women from Black, Asian and minority ethnic and migrant backgrounds who have experienced barriers in accessing local perinatal services. Our co-production approach permeates through all aspects of the service, ensuring the service is person-centered, inclusive, accessible and builds on the strengths of existing community networks and cultural assets.

Referring a client

Women can be referred to Newham Nurture at anytime during their pregnancy until two years after birth. We are open to Black, Asian and minority ethnic migrant women who are Newham residents and are experiencing persistent barriers such as:

insecure housing
language barriers
complex health needs
no recourse to public funds
being a recent migrant or asylum seeker
being a single mum with no support network

If you would like to refer a woman to Newham Nurture, please complete the professional referral form and specify what support is required. They will receive contact by a staff member within 72 hours.

Support for clients

Drop-in sessions

Newham Nurture offers accessible, weekly drop-in antenatal education sessions, with a crèche provided for 0-4 years. We recommend that if your client needs the crèche or your client has very limited or no English language, please email or call us so we can prepare in advance.

Baby&Me groups are held twice per week, delivered from venues within the community at East Ham Library and St Mark’s Community Centre. These sessions provide women with timely information and access to support for all types of baby feeding, including breastfeeding, bottle feeding and mixed feeding, as well as the opportunity to expand their social networks.

Peer support

Wrap around peer support is additionally available with an aim to provide further emotional and practical support, to help reduce isolation, promote engagement with community and statutory services and increase confidence, mental health awareness and help to reduce stigma.

Peer supporters are local volunteer mums with lived experience who receive accredited training and offer time, space, and an empathetic, non-judgemental ear to pregnant and new mums up to six months after birth. Our peer supporters represent the wide diversity within the borough and are able to provide support in many languages other than English.

Counselling services

Women are able to access counselling through the programme, which has normally seen low engagement by our client group due to economic hardship, long waiting times or additional barriers.

Sessions take place either online or in person at Alternatives Trust office E13 8AB. Child care is available for clients.