This month marks the five-year anniversary of the Vermont MOMS Partnership (VT MOMS). Formed as a collaboration between the VT Department for Children and Families, Economic Services Division and the Howard Center (Burlington), the program expanded from its Burlington County-base to offer maternal mental health support to mothers across the state. Two staff members behind the success of the program are Community Mental Health Ambassador, Jennifer (Jenn) Jackman, and Howard Center Clinician, Gabriella McNulty. To hear more about the program in their own words, Jenn and Gabriella were interviewed about VT MOMS’s past, present, and future.
Jenn has served as the VT MOMS CMHA since the program’s inception, while Gabriella joined the team in 2022: together they bring a wealth of experience to the program. The two have been working together to co-deliver MOMS Stress Management classes since, and both named their teamwork, along with the Program Manager and Clinical Supervisor, as key to their success. Jenn and Gabriella expressed the benefit of being able to rely on one another when teaching classes, both because of the difference in their professional skill set they bring, as well as the differences in their personalities that complement and balance one another while creating something better together as a whole than individually. Jenn said, “Me and Gabriella have really kind of built our relationship in a way that works for both of us, but also for the clients,” while Gabriella added, “Being able to work together really creates something special in a way I have not experienced before in the other groups I have co-run in the past.” This dynamic allows for the two to co-facilitate in a way that is both engaging and creates a safe, judgement-free environment for their mothers.
Gabriella cited the MOMS Partnership as a way to connect mothers who have previously struggled with accessing resources to more intensive supports, stating that the classes frame mental health in an easy-to-approach way. The unique position Gabriella has as both the MOMS Clinician as well as a clinician for parents who are on Reach Up allows her to seamlessly assess and connect MOMS participants for individual therapy. She noted, “We have heard from our local Reach Up team that we have been able to get people into individual therapy services (who wanted it an needed it but struggled to access it for various reasons) in this way that they have often struggled to reduce barriers enough or to encourage to access those resources [...] It creates an opportunity for low stakes introduction into mental health care these mothers might not have originally had the chance to experience.” Jenn highlighted that her role as CMHA in particular helps to dispel any stigma around mental health, as she is able to provide the initial bridge between those services and the community. Since her role centers around her lived experiences that are similar to the population of mothers she serves, Jenn notes she is able to connect on a different level. She added that, “I think that I can really connect with the moms in a different capacity that maybe the clinician can't, so I think I kind of bridge that gap. I'm able to really help [the mothers] connect with other resources. I'm also a mom. So a lot of the things that they're going through [...] I feel like not only can I connect with them around some getting them extra support with mental health, but also being a parent, I can kind of understand and sympathize with them and empathize like what they're going through the stress and needing extra support around parenting.”
Jenn and Gabriella also provided some insight into the gap in services the MOMS Partnership fills in Vermont. Gabriella expressed that while many other wonderful programs exist that support different facets of parenting, none are catered specifically to the mother and her needs as an individual who is also a parent; “Folks really like the fact that this is about stress. It's something that we all have that can be stress from any sort of source. It doesn't have to be from one specific thing, and although the skills can be easily translatable to your kiddos, in reality, it's really just for you. And so if it's not for your kids, it's okay. It doesn't have to be [...] I think also, the gift cards being able to show like ‘you're putting in the work, this is to respect the fact that your time is valuable, and you deserve to be compensated for putting in this work, and also for carving out this time for yourself,’ because it's really hard to do for this population.” She added, “We talk about [..] what it feels like to be seen, for there to be a group like this knowing that this is something that's facing our community. And people care enough to look into it and create a support for it. And we get a lot of feedback from the moms that they're just so excited that someone cared enough and saw them.”
When asked about the growth of VT MOMS since their time joining the team, both Jenn and Gabriella noted there were significant changes throughout service delivery. The first came in the third week of classes, when in-person services were discontinued due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the team had to pivot to online classes. Since then, classes have continued to be offered online, which has allowed their programming to expand to every county in the state, as this format alleviates participant concerns about transportation and childcare. Gabriella stated, “The way that this program has grown in such a short amount of time from going from just Chittenden County to the whole state has been insane, but really amazing. We are able to reach so many people that wouldn't have had access to anything like this.” The VT MOMS team has also adapted to the needs of their community throughout its five years in real time, such as shifting the type and amount of incentives provided, formatting of the program, what topics are expanded upon, and the resources shared in follow-up. These decisions are based in part on community input from Economic Services and the Howard Center, but most importantly, come directly from the mothers taking the classes. The impact their feedback and voice have on programming are often shared with the mothers to illustrate to them that their voice, their input, and their needs matter.
Both Gabriella and Jenn described their enthusiasm for continuing services, as well as the possibility of expanding the reach of the program to even more mothers in the state, while continuing to prioritize making services as accessible as possible. Jenn summed it up by staying, “Regardless how many shifts and changes we have had throughout the Vermont MOMS program I still enjoy this work and what we're doing here.”
The next cohort of MOMS Stress Management classes will begin in the spring.