Community Wellness Africa, CWA – Counseling program for Teenage Mothers.
The NEW teenage pregnancy support service at Community Wellness Africa helps teenage mothers to stay in school. Our program is designed to answer questions such as, “What benefits can a teenage mom get?” “How to prevent teenage pregnancy in our communities” and focuses on “how we can help teenage mothers?” as well. Community Wellness Africa joins other voluntary and community development organizations in providing health education and social support to young moms.
Counseling program for Teenage Mothers
Teenage pregnancies often tag along with complications that have far-reaching consequences to the teen mom. Physically, the teens’ internal organs are often damaged during childbirth since their bodies cannot handle the delivery. Psychologically, teens suffer a much greater hurdle. Typically, most teen moms blame themselves for joining motherhood before achieving their dreams, goals, and aspirations. Such perception leads to resenting the society around her, and sometimes the resentment is projected to the child. If unresolved, the teen mom often contemplates suicide or acts of self-harm as an “escape” route to their problem.
The situation is often made worse if close family and friends either directly or indirectly suggest to the teen mom that they are to blame for their problem even when the pregnancy was due to an unfortunate event like rape.
If not assisted through professional counseling, the teen mom is often left in a tandem that often leads to making uninformed choices that spiral down to affect her family and peers. To address this challenge, a focused approach to counseling is vital. The three-pronged counseling approach has proven effective in addressing the scourge of teenage pregnancies. This approach seeks to cure the cause rather than the symptoms.
In this matrix, the teenage mom, her family members (inclusive of teachers), and her peers are all taken through counseling sessions to better handle the problem. The teen mom is taken through counseling sessions, often as an individual, to accept, heal and use her ordeal to inspire, educate and motivate other teens moms. On the other hand, the family members are counseled on how to act as a support system for the teen mom who needs nothing short of their emotional support and other forms of support such as financial support. The peers are equally counseled on the concept of unconditional positive regard and, most importantly, taken through multiple like skills sessions to equip them with knowledge on how to maneuver challenges of their teenage sexual life.
Through this approach, the number of teenage pregnancies will be reduced, thereby achieving the Sustainable Development goals number 3 on good health and well-being, number 4 on quality education, number 5 on gender inequality, and number 10 on reduced inequality.
Finally, Community Wellness Africa believes that counseling is one of the most effective approaches in the control and management of teenage pregnancy in the Global South..