Her PLAN Expands Her Care Partner Pilot Program

First announced in 2025, the Her Care Partner pilot program now exists at nine sites across Tennessee and West Virginia.  

Her PLAN announced the expansion of their Care Partner pilot program equipping pregnancy centers to provide intensive case management support to meet complex client needs. The pilot program began with three sites in 2025 across Tennessee. The expansion adds six additional sites in Tennessee and West Virginia. 

Her Care Partner is a groundbreaking program that places specially trained Care Partners at pregnancy centers who are equipped to handle even the most urgent and complex challenges. Care Partners walk with women in crisis, helping them access critical resources and develop personalized plans for long term stability. Her PLAN provides extensive training on trauma-informed care, motivational interviewing, goal setting, and more. Care Partners are paid, full-time staff who walk with women who courageously choose life and build a relationship with her that upholds her dignity and agency as they plan for her future together. 

The second annual in-person training took place last week in Nashville, Tennessee. The nine Care Partners and their supervisors spent a week with Her PLAN staff learning the dedicated software platform, client relationship building skills, and policies of the Her Care Partner pilot.  

Her PLAN Executive Director Autumn Christensen spoke to attendees about the pro-life safety net, a framework developed by Her PLAN that responds directly to the reasons women obtain abortions. The pro-life safety net comprises seven categories of care that — when absent — often lead a woman to resort to abortion. Care Partners and their supervisors shared their firsthand experience working with abortion-vulnerable women and which category of care is the most common need they witness in their community. Often it is many, all-encompassing needs compounding on each other that cause her to feel abortion is her only option. Seventy-two percent of women who had an abortion identified three or more reasons for seeking an abortion and the median number of reasons was four.    

One facet of the Her Care Partner pilot program that separates it from others is emphasis on intentional relationship building. In addition to the material support that Care Partners help clients navigate, having a reliable, consistent individual dedicated to walking with them every step of the way also provides emotional support and a sense of community. Of the over 1 million women who have had abortions each year, 60% said they would have had their baby if they’d had more emotional or material support. When these needs are met, women are empowered to choose life and thrive as mothers. Her Care Partners are one way to provide such life-saving community support.  

The first group of Care Partners – Alisa, Alexus, and Bethany – recently completed their first year of the pilot program. To date, the pilot has served 70 women, and 19 babies have been born. The pilot has produced a 67% client retention rate, and success stories include a client earning her GED, clients obtaining critically needed housing and transportation support, and more.  

In her first year, Alisa Bishop, the Care Partner at Catholic Charities of Eastern Tennessee, supported client-driven progress to secure employment, permanent housing, and meet personal goals for themselves and their families. One of the most common barriers her clients faced was a lack of a support system.  

At first, Bishop would recommend her clients join local social and support groups throughout Knoxville. But when it became apparent that almost every client desired friendship and community with other moms, she decided to facilitate her own. While she provides the setting, she leaves the planning entirely up to the clients. “It feels like it’s their own place to fellowship and give them the sense of community that was already there,” said Bishop. “It’s just about the connection.”  

Sometimes it is a social event, such as the upcoming back-to-school cookout for the clients and their families. Sometimes it is educational, such as one month when Bishop led a discussion on how to build and participate in a strong community. Clients often struggle to make time to come to the pregnancy center for appointments in the midst of their difficult situations. Social support like this is a reminder that the center is not only a place to find help but also a place to gain community.  

After the initial in-person training, Her PLAN supports Her Care Partners through weekly coaching, a software platform for assessing client needs, virtual education modules, and additional state events. There are also monthly training courses that provide more detailed education on specific topics, as well as a monthly meeting for their supervisors to provide peer-to-peer support. 

As the Her Care Partner program undertakes the second pilot year, Her PLAN and the advisory committee will continue refining and adapting the program to provide centers the support they need to walk with abortion-vulnerable women facing some of life’s most difficult circumstances. In the coming years, Her PLAN intends to expand the program so it is widely available, as professional case management support is needed nationwide.