Independent evaluation highlights impact of the MMHA’s Everyone’s Business Campaign

Today, WSA Community Consultants and the Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA) publish the results of an independent five-year evaluation of the MMHA’s campaigning work. The report, titled ‘Turning the Map Green: Evaluating the Everyone’s Business Campaign 2016–2021’, provides a broad, objective view of the MMHA’s efforts, using robust evidence* to measure the Campaign’s impact.

Commenting on the report, MMHA’s Chair Luciana Berger said:

“The MMHA warmly welcomes and shares WSA Community Consultants’ evaluation. We are delighted to see that the report highlights the MMHA’s important role in driving forward changes in perinatal mental healthcare. Particularly noteworthy is the advancement of specialist perinatal mental health (PMH) services across the UK – the focus of our work during this period of evaluation – and how the Alliance has actively kept the mental health needs of women and families on the political agenda.

“On behalf of the MMHA, I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who made change possible, including the many committed individuals who have dedicated so much to improving PMH support and without whom the MMHA would not exist. We are immensely proud of the collaborative strength of our membership and wider networks who have built upon and contributed to this vital work over the years.”

What’s next?

Whilst it is important to celebrate progress, we recognise that our job is far from done. There is still a long way to go to ensure that all women and families in the UK have equal access to comprehensive, high-quality PMH care, including and beyond specialist services.

With this in mind, the MMHA has produced a summary of the report outlining:

1. the main changes in PMH from the last five years
2. the driving force(s) behind them
3. WSA’s recommendations for the campaign going forward.

We hope this summary document will help the MMHA team, members and allies understand where to focus our collective energies as we continue our efforts to create change for women and families.

We are excited to utilise this learning in our plans and build on what has already been achieved as we move forward, together.

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Acknowledgements

The MMHA would like to say a big thank you to Comic Relief for funding the last five years of the campaign and the National Lottery Community Fund for their support since 2020.

We would also like to thank one of our founding members, Action on Postpartum Psychosis, for hosting the MMHA in the early days of the Campaign before we became a registered charity in 2018.

*WSA Community Consultants used a mix of qualitative and quantitative research methods, including stakeholder interviews, surveys, and secondary data sources. Read more about the process in the report.