Healthy Families Florida is a home visiting program for struggling expectant parents and parents of newborns. It's highly effective at preventing child abuse and neglect. Now the program is asking the legislature to expand and enhance services including mental health counseling.
Healthy Families Florida is asking lawmakers for $5 million to hire mental health experts for their home visiting teams.
Executive Director Rebekkah Sheetz says since the services are free, that would put mental health services in the home at no cost.
"We often parent the way we were parented," she said. "And if we didn't get that safe, stable, nurturing home environment, then we don't necessarily know how to give it to our children. And so, this home visitor comes in and works alongside you to show you ways to relate to your baby, and then also helps you get additional support. Because sometimes there are things going on beyond parenting, but we still have to be a good parent."
Sheetz stresses that the services are not only free but voluntary.
"So, you can either disclose and say, 'I am struggling, and I need additional help with a mental health counselor,'" she said. "Or we offer a lot of additional health screenings, like the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, which screens specifically for postnatal depression. And we also do other screening tools throughout a person's time in the program – which, by the way, can be up to 5 years after the birth of the baby."
Healthy Families Florida has a 99-percent success rate at preventing child abuse and neglect a year after the delivery of services.
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