My Little Voices
We’re delighted to have been able to support the amazing “My Little Voices” initiative by Children’s Health Ireland.
This new booklet has been produced to help parents to bond with their young baby while the child is in hospital. It is available for parents whose babies stay in Children’s Health Ireland at Connolly, Crumlin, Tallaght, or Temple Street, through the Speech and Language Therapy departments.
Huge thank you too our amazing supporters for making projects and initiative like this possible!
The ‘My Little Voices’ initiative was launched in June 2022 across Children’s Health Ireland hospitals with Minister of State in Department of Health with responsibility for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler TD (right), Clinical Director at CHI Dr. Ike Okafor, Speech and Language Therapist Manager Catherine Cunningham, mum Eilis McClory and son, 9-month-old Leo Sweeney. The resource aims to support families in developing responsive relationships with their baby while in hospital.
Speech and Language Therapist Manager, Catherine Cunningham who led the development of the project with colleagues Eilís McClory and Christina Cotter, said: “We know parents and caregivers who tune into the messages which their baby is sending are laying the foundations for their baby’s speech, language and communication development. We also know that babies and children benefit from language rich experiences and this benefit is seen in the school years and beyond, right into adulthood. We hope that this resource can make a substantial difference to the parent/caregiver who finds themselves in one of our hospitals for a longer than average stay. This simple gift shows we care, that we support them as parents/caregivers and that their child is important as a little person with his/her own voice.”
Dr. Ike Okafor, Clinical Director in CHI said: “The foundations for infants’ future health and well-being are laid down in the first years of life. Approximately 1,800 infants are admitted every year to the Neonatal Intensive Care Units of Children’s Health Ireland and many more to the infant wards and emergency departments. We are seeing the results of the isolation of the pandemic and the effect that had on children, through our Emergency Departments over the last year. It’s important we do all we can to support mental health at every stage of life. Early recognition, prevention and intervention for infant mental health is key and is also cost effective.”
You can read more about this amazing initiative on the Children’s Health Ireland website.