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Learning parenting
Clarity Clinics First Steps to open May 19
Clarity Clinic
Kris Nauman (left) is the executive director, and Lisa Staats is the director of client services.

When Clarity Clinic of Dubuque opened a Platteville facility, it leased the two-floor building at 185 E. Pine St., putting the clinic on the ground floor.

What’s on the top floor will open May 19.

Clarity Clinic’s First Steps combines parenting classes for Clarity Clinic clientele, in addition to the Baby Boutique, with clothes, baby furniture, diapers and other supplies for young families.

First Steps will have its grand opening Saturday, May 17 from 9 a.m. to noon.

Clarity Clinic describes itself as “providing women and men no-cost, truthful information so they can make informed decisions with confidence” about an unplanned pregnancy, including post-abortion support.

“Our goal is to educate them to develop strong parenting skills and strong family values,” said Kris Nauman, executive director of the clinic, which opened in January. “This gives us the opportunity to have really hands-on support.”

First Steps includes an 11-module curriculum, starting with the first trimester and going through the labor and delivery process. Topics include eating for two, bonding with an unborn baby, understanding baby cries, infant massage, newborn care, the parent–child relationship, emergency first aid, the postpartum period, toilet training, and breastfeeding.

Also offered will be Shame-Free Parenting classes, which include such topics as “We Can Learn What We Don’t Know,” “We Can Learn and Teach about God,” “We Can Learn to Have Realistic Expectations, and “We Can Learn to Give Wings Not Strings.”

Participants earn Baby Bucks, which can be spent in the baby boutique, by attending classes, doing homework, and watching training DVDs.

“If a guy and a girl both come, they get double Baby Bucks, so they earn while they learn,” said Nauman.

The clinic’s services include pregnancy tests, ultrasound exams, consultation on pregnancy options, “Personalized Solutions Assessments” with “community referrals and helpful information.”

First Steps’ medical classes are mostly run by registered nurses. “that same nurse that performed that ultrasound is going to be there for them” in classes, said Nauman.

Nauman said the Platteville clinic had nine client appointments in April, with another 31 in Dubuque.

“We feel like it’s growing,” she said. “We’ve had a tremendous amount of local support to get it going. Hopefully it’ll be seen as a gift to come to support one another in Southwest Wisconsin.”