News Releases
Southcoast Health’s New Beginnings Moms Do Care Program Opens a Dedicated Space in New Bedford

On Friday, January 17 Southcoast Health leaders, providers, community partners and state officials gathered to celebrate the grand opening of the new location for the New Beginnings Moms Do Care Program.
“We are delighted to be opening the doors of this specialized location for expecting and new moms in our community who have struggled with substance use – and their babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome,” said David O. McCready, President & CEO of Southcoast Health at the event. “I’d like to thank Lauren Sousa, Team Leader of the New Beginnings Moms Do Care Program, and the entire team for their hard work and dedication in bringing this vision to life. This program addresses a critical healthcare need in our community and none of this would have been possible without you.”
The newly renovated state-of-the-art facility at 543 North Street, Suite D in New Bedford provides a dedicated space for the program outside of the hospital setting and seamless connection with maternity services. With private meeting rooms and a child-friendly, spacious open floor plan, the new facility was curated to meet the individual needs of all participants and foster a sense of community on their journey toward resilience and recovery.
Southcoast Health’s New Beginnings Program first began providing these crucial services to pregnant mothers with perinatal opioid exposure across the South Coast region in 2016. Through collaboration with local and state funders, including the Carney Family Charitable Foundation and the Health Policy Commission, this program was established to work within the non-profit health system and collaborate with community partners to educate and engage pregnant people to improve outcomes for substance exposed newborns.

Over the years, the program has grown to further address this pressing need within our community, and since this team began tracking data in October 2021, there have been about 350 referrals to the program with close to 250 patients enrolled.
“It’s hard to imagine care before the New Beginnings program started. As I have said before, it has truly revolutionized specialized perinatal care for our patients before, during, and after their pregnancies with proven outcomes. It’s truly a privilege to be a part of this team,” said Christian Pope, DO, FACOG, Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Southcoast Health.
In 2023, New Beginnings was awarded a grant from the Massachusetts Bureau of Substance Abuse Services, which incorporates the program into the state’s existing Moms Do Care initiative, expanding its scope of services to provide services to pregnant and birthing people impacted by all substances throughout pregnancy and three years postpartum and solidifying its program model through 2030.
The expanded services that were made possible with this support include:
- Extending the duration of care to up to three years postpartum
- Adding a perinatal recovery coach, a social worker and a data intern
- Hosting recovery groups and mom and child groups
- Adding telehealth capabilities
- Plans to offer need-based transportation




“I want to thank everyone at Southcoast Health, and our community and state partners, for the tremendous support this program has received since we first started supporting patients in the hospital setting in 2016. It is an honor to see how much the program has grown and I am looking forward to continuing to expand the services we provide for this population in our new location,” said Lauren Sousa, RN, Team Leader of the New Beginnings Moms Do Care program at Southcoast Health.
The New Beginnings program provides empathetic, evidence-based and individualized care. The education and support provided, as part of prenatal care, completes the multidisciplinary approach that is essential to a healthy pregnancy. The team was recently recognized for their success with the 2024 Perinatal-Neonatal Quality Improvement Network of MA (PNQIN) Hospital Team Award.
To learn more about the New Beginnings Program, click here.