Goodwill Nurse-Family Partnership® (NFP) pairs first-time, expectant parents with a registered nurse for ongoing visits to support families so they can provide the very best start for their children during the earliest, most developmentally critical years. 

Until participants’ children turn two years old, nurses walk alongside their families, educating them about child development and connecting them to invaluable resources to tackle barriers in housing, employment and mental health. For parents who need an additional level of support regarding their mental health, nurses refer parents to the Goodwill NFP mental health team. 

Composed of five full-time mental health clinicians, this team conducts one-on-one therapy with parents who are enrolled in Goodwill NFP. 

“Each team member has been trained in perinatal mood disorders and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing,” said Amber Burleson, manager of the mental health team. 

Knowledge is not the only common thread among the team. Despite coming from different backgrounds, all members share a passion and a history of working with families and children in a state that can often lack mental health care access. For those who are pregnant or postpartum, there are potentially more barriers to addressing their mental health.

“Being able to provide great care to individuals who don’t have access or may be scared – there’s something reverent about that,” said Chanda Boyden-Deidrick, one of the five members of the mental health team.

The work can be mentally and emotionally taxing, but the mental health team is enthusiastic about its implications for the families they work with and for themselves.

“In the short term, we can minimize the barriers that our clients are experiencing in mental health care,” said another member of the mental health team, Katie Kauffman.

For Nichole Hutchinson, it is not only fulfilling to see parents grow from therapy, but also to be a Black therapist in a profession where people of color are often underrepresented.

“Statistically knowing that there is a lack of black therapists, it’s a special feeling to be in this position,” said Nichole.

Natasha Smith, another clinician on the team, takes pride in bringing her authentic self to the parents, who become more open and personable during therapy sessions. For many members of the team, connecting to the parents they work with means drawing on their personalities, backgrounds and similar life experiences. 

Altogether, the mental health team looks forward to helping more and more parents find their best selves – which not only affects the parent, but the child they’ve brought into the world. This work can break generational cycles, and the team has banded together around that importance.

“I've been working with this population for a really long time, and the work has often felt really heavy,” said Amber. “I can't quite describe how it feels to know that I am not alone in that work. Knowing that everyone on our team is as passionate and committed is very empowering. We can do more together than we can by ourselves.”

The mental health team provides short-term mental health counseling with enrolled and engaged Goodwill NFP families who have been referred by their nurse. To refer yourself or someone you know to Goodwill NFP, visit goodwillnfp.org.