Peer Parenting Support Program

Welcome to the final few weeks of online engagement for our Peer Parenting Support Program here on Engage Ottawa!

We’re nearing the end of this public consultation, and we’re very excited with what we have seen so far! We’ve had a lot of fantastic dialogue with you, and we’re finally starting to translate all your ideas and feedback into the design of our program!

We’ve come up with a first concept of what the peer matching system could look and feel like, and we’ve created a short explainer video to walk you through it. We’d love your full take on it – does it seem easy to use? Did we remember to include all the important topics? Do we need to tweak it some more? Please let us know by filling out a quick survey and answering a few questions in our forum space.

Additionally, this is your chance to give us final suggestions on any of the topics and issues we covered during this engagement. After we close this space to participation on Monday, August 19th, we will be taking all the data and information left by you to create a summary and begin our analysis.

We'd like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all of you for coming back to help us design this support system. All of us here at Ottawa Public Health’s Peer Parenting Support Program team are very grateful for all the ideas and comments that you’ve left us. Everyone who has participated has played a key role in ensuring that this program is designed for and by the people who will benefit from it the most. We hope it will fill a sizeable gap in the lives of parents and caregivers across Ottawa.

All the best!

Welcome to Week 6! This week we’re going to try and nail down the best ways to match participants with their volunteers.

We want to find out what information is crucial for both participants and volunteers, so we can best match them with each other based on an intake form they will fill out when they first sign up. We have an example of this intake form attached to our latest survey, which you can view and fill out here.

When you’re done with that, make sure head over to the Quick Polls on the right-hand side of our homepage, where you can tell us a bit more about how you as a volunteer would want to communicate with your matched peer.

This information will be extremely important to us in finding the right matches for people who sign up for our program, so we really appreciate you taking the time to leave your input. Remember, this will be YOUR parenting support system, so tell us what we need to know to make is as useful and inclusive as we possibly can!

Danielle V.

Welcome back! In Week 3, we wanted to find out how give our future volunteers the training and support they need. This week, we want to focus on how first to find and keep them, along with the participants they’ll be supporting.

To find this out, we’re going back to our Ideas and Forum spaces to ask you to help us pinpoint the reasons why would want to take part in this program. Whether you see yourself more as a participant or volunteer, how can we motivate you to sign up and stick around? What would really make that difference for you? What motivated you to volunteer in the past?

Remember, as we bring you these new questions weekly, all the others from past weeks will also stay open to participation and discussion until the end of the engagement, so be sure to check in on all our tabs to have your say on all the key questions we’re asking.

Thank you for being here and contributing. Check back next week for more new content!

Danielle V.

Welcome to Week 4! This week, it’s all about the name game and the look and feel of things!

We need your ideas on names for our program, how it should look, and how we can spread the word.

Tell us what would make a great name and logo using the Ideas tab. Attach any images, drawings or even just ideas that inspire you in the moment! You can also vote on your favourites.

There is now also a Quick Poll on the right hand side for us to find out how you tend to hear about programs in the community.

Thank you for sticking with us so far. We’re well on our way to designing a great Peer Parenting Support Program thanks to you!

Danielle V.

Welcome to Week 3! We’re really getting into the nitty-gritty of things as we now look at volunteer training and support.

Check out the Ideas tab to tell us what you think volunteers should know to offer help and support to all participants.

We’re also introducing a new survey asking you to give us your thoughts on volunteer training.

Thank you for signing up and coming back to help us shape this program. If you have just joined us, please feel free to explore the other questions and tabs. Your help will ensure we create a program that serves those who need it most. Check back again next week for more new content!

If you have any questions for us, be sure to send them our way under the Q&A tab.

Danielle V.

Welcome back to our online engagement for our Peer Parenting Support program! This week, we are talking about peer matching and how people want to meet and talk to each other.

New questions for this topic have been added under our Forum and Ideas tabs.

We’re also starting a new tab: Places! Here, you will find a map that will let you to pin (identify) where you would like to meet your peer match or a convenient place for volunteer training. You will find pins already on the map with places like community centers that may be good spots to find support.

If you haven’t had the chance to weigh in on the topics from last week, they are still open. Also, please register and tell us more about yourself by completing this survey.

Thank you again for taking part and helping us design a great program! Don’t forget to check back next week for more new content.

Danielle V.

Welcome to the first week of online engagement for a future Peer Parenting Support program! To kick things off, we want to find out what you think about peer support; what would be helpful; and ways we could design a program that is welcoming and inclusive.

This week, we will be focusing on your unique parenting needs. Please tell us more about yourself by completing this survey. In the forum tool, discuss with other participants what you think about peer support and what impact it could have on parenting. Take a few minutes to reflect and share your story: How does culture affect your parenting journey?

Thank you for taking part in this engagement and we hope to see you back in future weeks, to hear more from you on what would make a great Peer Parenting Support Program.

Danielle V.

Public Health Nurse and Peer Parenting Support Project Lead