Creating a village for new parents

PARENTS will soon have a new place to go for connection and support as Parent Thread gears up to launch in Torquay.

The initiative will feature two new programs including Bloom and Connect for expectant mums and Strong Starts for expecting dads.

Bloom and Connect will begin on November 9, helping soon to be mums build their village before their child arrives and building the connection during pregnancy.

For dads, Strong Starts will kick off on November 6 and operate with the same goal, to get dads forming connections and making friends.

Parent Thread founder and manager Eleisha Casañas said the real focus is on social connections.

“There’s a lot of new parent groups, but there’s often challenges to get out and meet people at that stage when you might be sleep deprived and looking after a newborn,” she said.

“The idea is to help people build that connection during pregnancy.”

Each of the programs run for six weeks with different activities and information sessions taking place.

For the group of mums, they can expect to hear from a local nutritionist or head along to a movement session, while the dads take on some more practical activities.

Working in the loneliness space for the past seven years, Ms Casañas identified there was a real need in the local region for this kind of support.

Its need in the community was proven earlier in the year with a successful trial running in Grovedale.

“There’s a lot of people that have moved to Torquay from other places so don’t necessarily have their extended family support around,” she said.

“It’s really important to build that village and I think it’s just something that’s really needed in the community.”

The program does currently have a cost associated with it, with Ms Casañas hoping to get some sponsors on board to make it free.

“I’d love to get all local businesses involved and I’d like to just continue expanding it, having more opportunities for connections, intergenerational events, playgroups, lots of different spaces for parents and families to connect with one another and with the community.”

For more information, head to linktr.ee/parent_thread