Text Support Solution for the Pacific Post Partum Support Society
In late 2017, the Pacific Post Partum Support Society (PPPSS) conducted a trial texting support program to measure the impact of providing post partum support through text message interactions. What was discovered was that phone support metrics did not change and a new demographic of parents were taking advantage of the service - a group of people who were previously not being given the support they needed through a difficult time in their lives.
PPPSS undertook the process of getting a grant from the Province to provide this service as part of its regular offering. I was approached and asked to assess a software platform solution that would make this possible. Through a series of meetings, we established our requirements and budget.
I proceeeded to evaluate a series of platforms that would fulfill our needs and presented my findings to the society. We decided on a platform called iCarol. I participated in the contract negotiations, acting on PPPSS’s behalf as their technical expert and was able to leverage the contract negoatiation skills with platform vendors that I practiced in my day job.
Next was the process of setting up the platform for our needs, which I took on, followed by the training of the trainers for full deployment to the society’s staff and wonderful volunteers. Of course, there’s always bumps and I helped smooth those out. I’m proud to say we’ve been offering texting support for those in need since February 2019.
Project link: https://postpartum.org/services/telephone-and-text-support/