Fundamental purpose

Historical

At the beginning of the 2000’s, family medicine obstetrics and health professionals of the CSSS de la Montagne, among others felt frustrated to not have a real impact on the lives of families in situations of vulnerability that they served. The health system is struggling to reach out to these families and maintain a significant link with them, which renders precarious their access to the psychosocial and health services that they need, as well as their access to preventive interventions, which require continuity.

Dr Vania Jimenez, family medicine obstetrics and Amélie Sigouin, an early childhood practitioner decided to create a non-profit (NPO) and a charitable organization, La Maison Bleue, and to integrate doctors, professionals from the CISSS de la Montagne and UMF Côte-des-Neiges, in a hybrid structure offering more freedom and flexibility.

Raison d'être - Historique

An interdisciplinary interventioN model and an integrated approach

La Maison Bleue helps pregnant women and their families living in situations of vulnerability. Its mission is to reduce social inequalities and to promote the optimal development of the child,

from the time of their mother’s pregnancy until the age of 5.

The approach is particularly aimed at families living in a context of multiple and complex vulnerability. It closely combines medical monitoring of pregnancy and infancy with educational, psychosocial and legal support for the mother and her family.

This human scale intervention model promotes a positive experience of pregnancy, childbirth and parenthood; stopping the isolation; and providing families with tools to support their well-being and that of their children.

Raison d'être - dessins d'enfants

Teaching and Knowledge Transfer

La Maison Bleue shares its expertise
and trains the next generation of practitioners

At the heart of its social perinatal model, La Maison Bleue holds a deep commitment to the training of young practitioners and to the outreach of its approach, whether by hosting interns or by participating in knowledge transfer activities on topics related to our intervention in the hope of sharing our expertise.

Community of practice

Bringing together professionals from all Maison Bleue sites and different care backgrounds, helps this committee develop internal knowledge transfer tools and ensure the harmonization of practices.

In-field training

La Maison Bleue applies its innovative expertise to serve the student community and provide them with the opportunity to experience truly unique interdisciplinary collaborative work and integrated services. Thanks to the close ties that La Maison Bleue holds with its institutional and academic partners, we offer trainings and internships specific to many interns coming from different fields of study.

In 2023, 2024, students have contributed more than 2 831 hours to the organization’s work. These experiences have enabled students to discover a motivating interdisciplinary work environment:

  • 13 Professional internships including: nursing, special education, nutrition/drama therapy, social work, social work, nursing and midwifery
  • 24 internships in Social Medicine
  • 70 Medical Residents
  • 37 Medical Externals
McGill
Cégep du Vieux Montréal
Collège Supérieur de Montréal
UQO
Université de Montréal
Collège Rosemont
Université Concordia

Knowledge disseminator

La Maison Bleue shares its innovative approach and practices

In order to extend the knowledge of what are the best practices in perinatal and early childhood care to families in situations of vulnerability and thus improve the local service offering, La Maison Bleue gives special importance to knowledge transfer in action.

La Maison Bleue partage son approche et ses pratiques novatrices

Clientele

The first condition to begin a relationship with La Maison Bleue’s team is pregnancy.

This is the first step to access our services for families, and our services will continue until the last child is 5 years old. The families followed at La Maison Bleue often combine many vulnerability factors and present extremely varied life paths and needs.

femme enceinte

vulnerability factors are numerous
and may include:

  • A precarious financial situation
  • Low education levels
  • Unwanted pregnancy or adolescent pregnancy
  • Isolation
  • Mental health or addiction problems
  • Abuse, neglect or violence
  • Precarious migration status or difficult migration journey
  • The involvement of the DYP
  • Single parenthood
  • Marital difficulties, etc.

THE RESEAU LA MAISON BLEUE

The first La Maison Bleue was established in May 2007, in the Côte-des-Neiges borough in Montreal to stop the isolation of pregnant women living in situations of vulnerability and to provide them with the necessary tools so that their child could be born and raised in the most favorable conditions for his or her development.

Inspired by the courage of these mothers, the founders created a home for them and their families. This home brings together a “village”, a support network consisting of health and social services professionals (family doctors, midwife, nurse, social worker, specialized educator, psychoeducator), therapists and volunteers to offer pregnant women and their families a welcoming environment where they can access health care and services provided by an intervention model built on a human scale.

Empowered by the recognition and success, a second La Maison Bleue opened in May 2011 to welcome families from the Montreal Parc-Extension borough, at the request of the CSSS de la Montagne which witnessed the effectiveness and efficiency of this approach in delivering the services that this population significantly needs.

In 2017, La Maison Bleue celebrated its 10th anniversary and inaugurated a third La Maison Bleue in the Saint-Michel borough thanks to a donation from the Marcelle and Jean Coutu Foundation and the recurrent support announced by the Ministry of Health and Social Services. The inauguration of this new La Maison Bleue in March 2017 is an opportunity to highlight the support of the essential partners in this project, namely the CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal and the Family Medicine Group – Maisonneuve-Rosemont family medicine unit. This third site, developed in a completely new institutional context, not only strengthens the sustainability of the model, but also its replicability and export potential.

La Maison Bleue opened its fourth social perinatal care center in the Verdun sector in Montréal in January 2020, thanks to a partnership with the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal and the GMF de Verdun. As it’s the case for the other ones, La Maison Bleue in Verdun gather under one roof a set of integrated medical, psychosocial and educational services making it possible to have a positive impact on babies’ health, children’s development, as well as strengthening parental skills. This new Maison Bleue reinforce perinatal services and work closely with existing local services.

With the involvement of the community and institutional settings, who acknowledge the significant health and social service needs of the neighborhood, we are actively working towards the upcoming opening of the fifth location of La Maison Bleue. We anticipate that it will be operational by January 2023.

Want to know more

Subscribe to our newsletter

We use an automated marketing platform to manage the relationship with our customers and send them promotional emails. By clicking "Send", you agree that the information provided will be sent to us in accordance with our privacy policy and terms of use.

Donate now

Every gesture counts...