Women Supporting Women

Women Supporting Women (WSW) is a community-driven, evidence-based intervention shown to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression in racially/ethnically diverse women. In partnership with the Calvin University Department of Nursing, WSW has changed the lives of hundreds of women across the United States through a supportive, educational group intervention that can be effectively delivered either in person or online.

Who does WSW serve?

  • women of all ages

  • women in pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, or postpartum phases

  • racially, ethnically diverse women

  • women across the economic spectrum

  • English, Spanish, Swahili, and Kinyarwanda speaking women

  • urban and rural women

  • “Someone listened to my problems and gave me strategies on how to cope with my stress.”

  • “I felt much better that someone listened.”

  • “I loved that women felt it was a safe space to express their feelings, tears, and laughs.”

  • “This program helped me relax my mind and give me enough resources to cope with my anxiety, depression, and overthinking negative thoughts.”

What are the outcomes?

The research documents that WSW can be successfully offered both in-person and online (see Publications).  

  • WSW decreased depression and anxiety symptoms from pre-WSW to six months post-WSW.

  • WSW increased knowledge for self-care around anxiety and depression from pre-WSW to six months post-WSW.

  • There was a high level of satisfaction with WSW, likely due to the fact that the solution was generated by the community.

How is the program structured?

  1. Connecting/Reconnecting: 25 minutes

  2. Education: 40 minutes (presentation, interactive activities, questions, discussion)

  3. Support: 25 minutes (via informal interaction)

Current Project

Preliminary Return on Investment Data for Presentation to Payer Systems from In-person WSW in Kent County Health Department’s Maternal Infant Health Program, 2022-2025

WSW became an evidence-based intervention in 2018 when we were able to show statistically significant mental health outcomes from pre-WSW to six months after WSW. Given that, it was time to move WSW out of academia and into practice.

Our team developed a collaboration with the Kent County Health Department’s (Grand Rapids, Michigan) Maternal Infant Health Program (MIHP). MIHP is a Medicaid-funded, evidence-based program that assembles an interdisciplinary team of health care professionals to support vulnerable pregnant women and their infants. The Kent County MIHP believed that their program could be even more robust if they had a mental health component, given the number of pregnant people they were seeing who struggled with anxiety and depression.

Our grant-funded collaboration (supported by Michigan Public Health Institute and Michigan Health Endowment Fund) with the Kent County Health Department has focused on two central issues: (1) integration of WSW into MIHP and (2) collection of return on investment (ROI) data for presentation to payor systems in pursuit of Medicaid funding for WSW in MIHP. The study is ongoing. Sustainability of all of our community-driven mental health solutions is one of our core values and we believe that Medicaid funding will provide that for WSW in MIHP.

The 6-Session Program

  • Session 1

    Health, Mental Health Stigma, and Symptoms of Anxiety/Depression

  • Session 2

    Causes of Anxiety/Depression

  • Session 3

    Preventing or Coping with Anxiety/Depression Part I

  • Session 4

    Preventing or Coping with Anxiety/Depression – Part II

  • Session 5

    Coping with Anxiety/Depression – When Professional Mental Health Care Might be Needed

  • Session 6

    Community Resources, Self-Care Plans, and Celebrating You

WSW in the News

Calvin University’s Women Supporting Women Program Reaches New Heights with Investigator-Initiated Research Award 5/27/22

Nurse Leader Training

This course will prepare RNs to lead a WSW group.  The WSW manual (available in both English and Spanish) will provide all objectives, educational content, handouts, and support activities needed for the group sessions. Both manuals are included with the course.