Posted By: Richa Mitra
15th December 2025
2 minute read
As part of the five-year Maternal Mental Health Councils Programme, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, we are delighted to introduce our Story of Change concept.
We have worked alongside our evaluation partner Wonder Insight and an amazing co-design team of lived experience champions and local organisations, who helped us create this Story of Change concept, providing a shared understanding of the wider aims and purpose of this important project.
Lived experience is the golden thread running throughout this programme.
Each of the 4 Councils are being Chaired by a woman with lived experience and we have been very intentional with ensuring we embed lived experience voices from the very start of this project. That work began very early on, to ensure genuine coproduction throughout all stages of the project.
This started with appointing one of MMHA’s Lived Experience Champions to join the Project Governance Board and it has been great to see them bring their experiences and insights to the group.
It has continued with the voices of lived experience being core to our evaluation and learning work to date, through the codesign group that worked on and produced the Story of Change.
The Story of Change will be used throughout the five year Maternal Mental Health Councils Programme by each of the 4 Councils to ensure that the national programme’s wider aims and purposes are adhered to within the different areas and systems involved.
Currently, it will be used by key stakeholders involved in Council 1, which is focused on ‘complex motherhood’: the complex issues that may surround a woman disadvantaged by factors such as domestic violence, addiction, poverty and child removal, during their perinatal period. This includes different sector organisations, local decision makers, professionals, as well as other VCSE organisations who are involved in the space; including our local partner for the North East Council, Her Circle.
Systems change can sound like a lofty, abstract concept, but when you frame it as a story of change, it suddenly makes sense. It’s quite magical really! You start to see how small actions connect to bigger shifts, and how people and ideas weave together to create transformation. We’re so excited that this work is being led by lived experience and to begin collaborating with our partners to achieve these outcomes together.
Nikki Wilson, CEO, MMHA
The Maternal Mental Health Councils initiative is set to roll out nationally, with future councils focusing on other intersectional issues such as race and culture, young motherhood (under 25) and perinatal mental health care in rural communities.
Each council will bring together women with lived experience, community organisations, and healthcare leaders to co-design and drive practical improvements in how care is delivered.
To find out more, visit the Maternal Mental Health Councils Programme page or contact richa@maternalmentalhealthalliance.org
View and download the Story of Change here
The Forum event marked the beginning of a major project funded by the National Lottery Community Fund that sees the MMHA establishing Maternal Mental Health Councils across the UK.
The National Lottery Community Fund has awarded the Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA) £1.5 million for a five-year project to address long-standing inequities in perinatal mental health care across the UK.
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