SOLVE Maternity Homes is a group of residential maternity homes for at-risk pregnant women and their babies. SOLVE’s devoted staff and volunteers provide housing and a structured program free of charge to women and their babies in the community. They truly are committed to serving each woman and child with dignity and respect.
It was clear from the beginning of the MIND IN THE MAKING training that the staff and volunteers of SOLVE have a strong desire to empower pregnant women by preparing them emotionally, physically, and spiritually to confidently parent. The 7 Essential Life Skills made sense to each of these women as it validated many aspects of the SOLVE programs.
While learning about the 7 Essential Life Skills, it was clear how these skills connected with the emotional, physical, and spiritual needs of each woman that SOLVE works with. The 7 Essential Life Skills modules shared in the training provided the women the opportunity to reflect on their own experiences and practices and learn what researchers have discovered about how children prosper and learn best. Comments made indicated how timely and applicable the Mind in the Making training was for the participants. WOOP would be used with the women at SOLVE to help them to create tangible goals for themselves and their children. Games and activities learned from the training would be taught and shared with mothers to help them realize it doesn’t take much time to engage with their babies in a meaningful way. The videos shared in the training helped the group connect to the research and visually see how using the 7 Essential Life Skills can positively impact the women they work with daily.
I shared with the group how, as a young mother, I utilized programs similar to SOLVE and how I was genuinely impressed by their dedication to this often-overlooked group in our community.
SOLVE’s core values include commitment, service, integrity, and compassion. Each of the women who participated in the training embodies the core values. The women shared common goals and ambitions to be as efficient as possible in their roles. There were reflections, goal setting, and new knowledge gained. Focus and self-control, perspective taking, communicating, making connections, critical thinking, taking on challenges, and self-directed, engaged learning were topics of discussion and sharing.
The women at SOLVE are dedicated to learning new ways to help the mothers they work with to become more informed and engaged parents; they have learned to infuse SOLVE’s core values with the 7 Essential Life Skills.
