Seleni Hosts Second Young Parent Expo
Teen parents get support from Seleni clinicians and community advocates
February 11, 2016
Seleni Institute's Second Young Parent Expo, on February 6, 2016, featured expanded programming for pregnant and parenting teens ages 14 to 22.
Attendees arrived from all over New York City, with Seleni providing teen homeless shelter residents with free transportation to and from the event. The three-hour program, filled to capacity with close to 100 attendees RSVP'd, provided teens with the opportunity to gain skills in newborn care and self-esteem building and talk about the challenges of parenting with Seleni clinicians and community advocates.
Volunteers provided on-site childcare for children ages newborn to six years old, and each participant received a full breakfast and a diaper bag full of infant and baby essentials.
The Young Parent Expo is a free quarterly program of Seleni's flagship program, the Seleni Institute Teen Initiative (SITI). SITI is solely dedicated to improving the likelihood of success in adulthood for teenage mothers by providing critical and evidence-based reproductive and maternal mental health services to pregnant and postpartum teenage girls.
In addition to the Young Parent Expo, SITI provides both direct support to teenage girls via individual psychotherapy, group support, and general information on the psychological effects of pregnancy and new motherhood, as well as professional training on reproductive mental health for clinicians working with a pregnant teen population.
Photo Credit: Margarita Corporan
