Our 2030 Strategy: A United Movement for Change 

We’re thrilled to launch our new strategy which will take us to 2030. A short 1-page summary can also be found here.

This strategy has been co‑created with lived experience champions, our members, experts and allies, our staff team and trustees. Thank you to all those in the alliance who contributed to its development and design. 

As part of our strategy design, we completed robust analysis of the external and internal challenges we face. We also used this as an opportunity to refresh and redefine who we are, what we do, and who we’re here to serve.

We are delighted to share a new set of six values and announce a new bolder vision for MMHA: excellent perinatal mental health care for all mothers and birthing people.  

At MMHA we are here to serve mothers and birthing people, and we will prioritise work focusing on those facing the deepest inequities. At the same time, we understand that perinatal mental health is a systemic issue with a widespread impact. We therefore always hold in mind babies, fathers, partners, non-birthing parents and healthcare professionals too.

We’re dreaming big about a future where, as an alliance we want to co-design the UK to be a country where:  

• We place equal emphasis on caring for mental and physical health before, during and after pregnancy. 

• The right type of mental health care is always provided at the right time, without discrimination.  

• Mental health conditions experienced in the perinatal period are no longer associated with shame, stigma or failure. 

Three areas of impact  

To turn our vision into a reality we will focus our work around three areas of impact:  

1. Influence national policy and systems  

2. Collaborate on solutions to improve care  

3. Educate to reduce stigma and raise awareness  

Influence national policy and systems 

At MMHA, we influence decision‑makers and shape recommendations for how perinatal mental health care must continue to evolve across the UK. Over the past five to ten years, the perinatal mental health landscape has changed dramatically. 

We are incredibly proud that our founding flagship campaign, Everyone’s Business - fondly known by many as the “Turn the Map Green” campaign - achieved its core aim of securing the national roll‑out of specialist perinatal mental health services. While there is always more work to do, this achievement marked a significant and lasting shift in care. 

Building on this progress, we will launch a new national campaign in collaboration with our alliance that reflects the most urgent challenges now facing women and birthing people, families, services and the workforce. Throughout 2026–2030, we will push at every opportunity for systemic, national commitments that embed perinatal mental health as a clear and sustained priority across healthcare and maternity systems in all four UK nations. 

Our campaigning and advocacy work will continue to be co‑created with our alliance and grounded in robust evidence, research, and data. It requires a balance of long‑term persistence alongside responsive, timely action and we are committed to holding that balance as the system continues to change. 

Collaborate on solutions to improve care 

At MMHA, we collaborate to co‑design solutions that address known challenges in perinatal mental health care, using shared insight and experience to shape practical, innovative improvements across the UK. This pillar of our strategy is focused on collaboration and tackling inequity. 

By 2030, we will have delivered a wide portfolio of collaborative projects rooted in lived‑experience leadership. All of these projects will aim to make care more equitable and/or better integrated across local and national systems. We will utilise and synthesise learning from these projects to inform our policy, influencing, and advocacy work as well. 

Projects in our current portfolio include Maternal Mental Health Link Worker for Young Parents Project, Black Maternal Mental Health Project and our Maternal Mental Health Councils Project. Previous projects include Amplifying Maternal Voices, Perinatal Peer Support Principles, Addiction & Child Removal Listening Project and many more. 

We’re really excited to be building our portfolio alongside our alliance, as working in partnership unlocks so much more that we can achieve together. 

Educate to reduce stigma and raise awareness  

At MMHA, we reduce stigma and raise awareness of perinatal mental health by educating parents and professionals through online campaigns, practical tools and evidence-based information. We collaborate with companies and brands to amplify the reach of our messaging for greater impact such as Tommee Tippee and Lansinoh. 

Through bold national campaigns and targeted initiatives across 2026-2030, we will drive measurable improvements in public and professional understanding of perinatal mental health and its impact on mothers, birthing people, fathers, partners and non-birthing parents.  

Our influencing and collaborative work also raise awareness in powerful ways. Every policy shift and community‑led solution brings perinatal mental health into clearer focus for parents, professionals and the public. 

You can read our 2030 strategy in full here, or a short one-pager here. We hope you’ll join us as we continue to create a future where the right type of perinatal mental health care is always provided at the right time, without discrimination.