NYMAZ

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All images © Copyright Sam Atkins 2007

About this project

Musical Mums is a highly successful initiative working with teenage mothers, aimed at creating a welcoming environment and promoting positive interaction with their children through music. The weekly sessions involve music creation and singing, encouraging the children to respond in a positive manner to the music and to the sounds of their mothers' voices. The sessions offer the mothers and their children the opportunity to bond in a way that is otherwise unavailable in their day-to-day lives, learning together in a fun environment, gaining new skills and confidence and making new friends. The initiative has been shown to decrease feelings of loneliness and isolation for these young mothers and to improve their 'soft' skills such as communication and self-expression. The participants also benefit enormously from gaining the confidence to use music as a tool to bond with their children. All of the young mothers now sing with their children outside of the sessions and several of the children regularly insist on singing their favourite songs.

"Thank you very much for running the Musical Mums sessions. Me and my son have really enjoyed it so far, so a big thank you." - Young Parent

The benefits for both mother and child extend beyond the music sessions, with the mothers being offered information and guidance on healthcare, education, training and employment opportunities as well as access to additional social activities such as baby swim sessions. Run in partnership with Bumps to Babes, the local midwifery service, and Connexions, this highly successful project is now in its third year.

Bus fares are reimbursed for all of the mothers so there is no cost involved in attending sessions and Musical Mums has also worked with various partners to provide incentive schemes to encourage and enable the mothers to attend regularly.

"He's really come out of his shell now hasn't he - he used to be so shy." - Community Midwife

In summer 2009 the programme expanded to run weekly sessions in partnership with SureStart in Catterick.

2009 also saw several participants take part in the new Musical Mums Leadership Programme, a tailored individual learning programme aimed at equipping the participants with the skills and confidence to lead their own music activities.

To date Musical Mums has worked with over 100 young mothers and babies and the results for both mothers and children have been outstanding.