ASPEN team wins King's Engaged Research Award 2025

The Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA) is thrilled to celebrate alongside the ASPEN team - Kaat De Backer and Dr Abigail Easter - as winners of the 2025 King’s Engaged Research Award in the Communicating Research (National) category.

The ASPEN study (Attempted Suicide in the PEriNatal period) explored women’s experiences of perinatal suicide attempts, including the circumstances surrounding them and the support available.

To share the findings, the ASPEN team and the MMHA co-hosted a sold-out online webinar, with invaluable input from experts by experience. The research gained national recognition, even reaching prime-time radio, helping to raise awareness of perinatal mental illness and tackle the stigma around perinatal suicide.

Congratulations to Kaat and Abigail for their remarkable research and commitment to breaking down barriers to understanding and support for perinatal mental health. The MMHA was honoured to support in the dissemination of these important findings, which demonstrated the vital importance of discussing mental health throughout pregnancy and the postnatal period.

Our heartfelt thanks to all the women who shared their difficult experiences in the hope of improving care for women, birthing people, babies and families across the UK.