Breast Feeding Unit's First 'Peer Support' Workers Graduate You are here: Home » News Detail
Delivered in partnership with HomeStart Kingston over a five month period, the first eleven graduates of the Your Healthcare (YH) 'Kingston Breast Feeding Friends' (BFFs) Peer Supporter training programme graduated at a recent passing out ceremony held at John Lewis, Kingston.
As the finale to YH’s Breast Feeding Support team’s inaugural ‘Kingston Breastfeeding Awareness Week’, our delighted volunteer mum to mum breast feeding supporters were presented with certificates from RBK Associate Director of Public Health, Iona Lidington. In a lunchtime ceremony, YH’s Head of Children & Family Services, Andrea Bennett also attended with YH Peer Support Project Manager and Infant Feeding Support Worker, Hazel Meyer.
Each Breast-feeding Friend Peer Supporter has undertaken a rigorous 20-hour training programme led by Your Healthcare and HomeStart Kingston. The Peer Supporters, known as ‘The Kingston BFFs’ represent a broad cross-section of Kingston’s community and will reach out to mothers from all areas especially areas where traditionally rates have been low, to ensure they get the infant feeding support they need.
Iona Lidington, Associate Director of Public Health for Kingston said; ‘Kingston Council's Public Health service are delighted to have supported this fantastic initiative. Working in conjunction with ‘Your Healthcare’, we have trained 11 peer supporters to help women continue to breast feed, a fantastic resource now available to people locally. We’re delighted to celebrate the achievements of our first graduates and hope to train many more in the coming months.’
Graduating peer supporter, Karima Young, said: ‘I know first-hand how valuable good support is during the first few months. I enjoyed the training as it has given me the confidence and knowledge to help mums overcome the barriers to breastfeeding.’
YH supports an approach based on evidence which shows that mother-to-mother support from those who have breastfed their own babies helps mothers reach their own feeding goals, especially in places or communities where breastfeeding is not the norm.