The spring 2021 eBulletin is out now with all the latest from the MMHA’s Everyone’s Business campaign and perinatal mental health (PMH) community, including:

1. 1. Celebrating the rollout of Maternal Mental Health Hubs in England
   2. Reflections on the Government’s ‘Vision for the 1,001 Critical Days’
   3. New interim Mother and Baby unit in Wales
   4. Northern Ireland’s progress with PMH service development
   5. Next steps for the MMHA Everyone’s Business campaign

And much more…

Please share widely among your networks! On Twitter and Instagram, please tag @MMHAlliance and #EveryonesBusiness.

Guest blog by Louse Harrington, Development and Impact Manager at the NSPCC

Up to one in five mums and one in 10 dads experience perinatal mental health problems (Bauer, 2016 and NHS England, 2018). However, access to the right support at the right time isn’t guaranteed and the pandemic has exacerbated things. During the last year, for many expectant parents, government restrictions have meant being away from supportive family and friends, dealing with new pressures, and uncertainty around birth arrangements. For some, this combination of challenges has intensified feelings of stress, anxiety and apprehension.

Through NSPCC’s Fight for a Fair Start campaign we’ve been calling on governments across the UK to ensure training and resources to spot perinatal mental health problems are available so parents can receive the support they need, at the earliest opportunity, for themselves and their babies. And where parents need specialist care and support, the NSPCC want governments to ensure it’s available to them, wherever they live.

To support improvements to early help on offer to parents, we’re sharing what we’ve learnt from adapting our preventative mental health service, Pregnancy in Mind, to virtual delivery, enabling us to still be here for families when they need us most. Continue reading Making remote services work: what NSPCC learnt from providing support to expectant parents during the pandemic →

Guest blog by Everyone’s Business Champion, Raj

In recognition of Maternal Mental Health Awareness week and today’s ‘Paternal Mental Health’ theme, I wanted to put a virtual pen to paper and share my experience. Continue reading Perinatal Mental Health: a partner’s perspective →

Guest Blog by Elaine Amoah, Assistant Psychologist in South London and the Maudsley NHS Foundation NHS Trust

During this Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week 2021, led by the Perinatal Mental Health Partnership UK, I am reflecting on the theme ‘Journeys to Recovery’. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, I completed a study on Black, Asian and minority ethnic women and access to perinatal mental health services for low mood and depression. The research highlighted inequalities in accessing services for Black, Asian and minority ethnic women which is ongoing and urgently needs addressing. This is especially important with the current circumstances of the pandemic as evidenced by the recent report commissioned by the Maternal Mental Health Alliance and conducted by Centre for Mental Health and the Parent-Infant Foundation ‘Babies in Lockdown’ report. Continue reading Black, Asian and minority ethnic women and access to perinatal mental health services →

Uned Gobaith (‘Unit of Hope’) is now officially open for referrals. The new interim Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) in Swansea Bay University Health Board will provide specialist inpatient care to new and expectant mums who experience serious mental health problems. Continue reading New Mother and Baby Unit opens its doors to women and families in Wales →