About "Mom to Mom"

"Mom to Mom" is a project designed to help mothers cope with the first year of parenting through home visits of volunteer mothers. The aim of this project is to provide support and guidance to mothers of the Negev who feel that they lack adequate support to make the transition smoothly.

Home visits are provided up to one year post-partum by experienced mothers who are trained and supervised by the staff of the Ben-Gurion University Center for Women’s Health Studies and Promotion. "Mom to Mom" originated with Jewish Family Services of Boston and was brought to Israel by Dr. Marsha Kaitz, a developmental psychologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who has been running such a project and provided the initial training for our staff.

One of its important features is that it has been evaluated and found most effective in preventing mental health distress among the birthing mothers and in developing a positive mother-infant bond for those in the project.

For the birthing mothers, the opportunity to develop a personal relationship with an experienced mother helps builds their confidence and their problem-solving abilities.

For the volunteer mothers, their investment in a mother struggling with challenges that they have experienced themselves offers them a way to make a meaningful contribution to another woman and to her infant, and thus to the larger community of women, children and families.

"Mom to Mom" Program Details

New Moms

New mothers are eligible for participation if they have given birth within the last year and have expressed an interest in a supportive relationship with an experienced volunteer. This service is provided at no cost to the birthing mothers. Our program is restricted to mothers living in the Negev area, in the environs of Beer-Sheva, Western Negev as far as Arad. Referrals into our program are received from family physicians, nurses, public health and mental health professionals and the staff of Soroka University Hospital. Family members are also welcome to refer women into the program and women are of course accepted by self-referral.

As of October 2015, we have served 430 new mothers from around the Negev.

Volunteers in "Mom to Mom"

Volunteers are accepted into the program if they are themselves mothers and have the motivation to devote 2 hours a week to a birthing mother over the course of a year. No other specific educational or professional background is required. Volunteers are screened in order to ensure that they have the proper social, emotional and teaching skills necessary for this type of outreach. Volunteers are accepted only completing the training course and making the commitment to volunteer over the course of a year. All volunteers are trained in small groups and receive ongoing supervision from our professional staff members. To date, we have trained nearly 200 volunteers. We are proud of the fact that 42% of the volunteers in "Mom to Mom" have continued with us to support mothers returning for second, third and fourth births.

The "Mom to Mom" program trains volunteers to help new mothers cope during the postpartum period, laying the foundation for healthy and nurturing family relations. The volunteers conduct home visits in order to provide ongoing support and to stave off problems such as postpartum depression, social isolation, and confusion about infant care. Home visits of one to two hours are arranged on a weekly basis for a period up to one year, and are customized according to the needs of the mothers.

Preventive Focus of the Program

Health care professionals in hospitals and primary care clinics have helped tremendously in identifying mothers who may be vulnerable to postpartum depression. Young or first-time mothers are a particular high-risk group who are targeted by this program and make up approximately 70% of the mothers served in this project.

The "Mom to Mom" project is carried out on the basis of cultural sensitivity. For example, Soroka University Hospital, which serves the entire Negev region, oversees approximately 14,000 births a year, divided evenly between the Bedouin and Jewish populations. The project especially reaches out to the new immigrant moms, from the former Soviet Union, Ethiopia and South America who often are challenged to understand the Israeli health services and may begin motherhood with very few economic resources. Mothers who are parenting as single parents or in other alternative family structures are most welcome in this project.

Project Staff and Personnel

Prof. Julie Cwikel is the Director of the Center for Women’s Health Studies and Promotion and a social epidemiologist who has worked extensively in the areas of health and social issues among women, children and families. As the founder of the Center, Prof. Cwikel has directed a number of community projects directly relevant to the "Mom to Mom" initiative. She has supervised "Mom to Mom" from its inception.

Ms.Ilana Schmidt Mom-to-Mom Project Coordinator -Positive parenting group facilitator, expert postpartum maternity counselor

Dr. Samira Alfeumi-Zeadna a post-doctoral researcher in charge of developing services especially for women from the Bedouin community who are trying to cope with symptoms of post-partum depression.

In 2020 we expanded the reach of Mom to Mom to include a special out-reach project into the Bedouin community headed by our intrepid post-doctoral fellow, Dr. Samira Alfeumi-Zeadna. We have been the happy recipient of two grants, one from the Two Lilies Foundation from Denver, Colorado and one from Keren Briah from Israel in order to expand the reach of Mom to Mom into the Bedouin community. We have translated many of the Mom to Mom materials into Arabic Mom to Mom- Arabic (follow link here) . We have started and are now in the process of setting up our steering committee to guide this project, made up of experts on women’s health and the Bedouin community. We hope to open our first support/treatment group in a matter of weeks, especially for new mothers who have symptoms of post-partum depression.

Ms. Mazal Tahar She is the administrative coordinator of the center-Digital Marketing and Customer Management