Imagine bringing your new baby home from the hospital.  It should be a time of celebration and great joy but what if your baby is born 10 weeks early?  What if your baby weighs less than 2 pounds?  Instead of going home, you visit your baby in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.  A neonatologist talks to you in medical terms that are difficult to understand. A nurse checks your baby's tubes and monitors.  You feel overwhelmed and helpless.  However, the nurse tells you about an organization of parents who have experienced the crisis of preterm delivery.  A Peer Counselor comes to see you right there in the hospital.  She listens as you express your fears, anxiety and grief.  She shows you pictures of her healthy 7 year old, whose birth weight was the same as your baby's.  You have hope for your baby's future.

Parents Reaching Out's (PRO) peer counseling program provides support and encouragement to families with high-risk pregnancies or a critically ill child.  By matching families with others that have had similar experiences, PRO is able to meet the emotional and practical challenges families may experience during these critical times.  The concept of the peer program is very simple – people helping others in need.  According to the National Peer Helpers Association,

when people experience frustrations, worries, concerns, and other life events, they typically turn to their friends [or others having experienced similar circumstances], not professionals, for help, advice, practical assistance, and support.  Peers do not replace licensed or certified professionals or practitioners, but often serve as an extension of the services these professionals provide. Through much research and evaluation, peer programs have been found to be one of the most proven and effective prevention strategies.  (National Peer Helpers Association, www.peerprograms.org.)