When is Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week 2022?
Monday 2nd – Sunday 8th May 2022
What is Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week?
Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week is a week-long campaign dedicated to talking about mental health problems during and after pregnancy.
It’s all about raising public and professional awareness of perinatal mental health problems, advocating for women affected by it, changing attitudes and helping families access the information, care and support they need to recover.
Who is it organised by?
The week is organised and led by MMHA member the Perinatal Mental Health Partnership UK (PMHP UK), who launched the first-ever UK Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week in 2014.
PMHP UK is a small group of individuals, including women with lived experience, who came together to raise awareness of maternal mental health.
What is this year’s theme?
The overall theme of this year’s Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week is ‘The Power Of Connection’, though each day will have a slightly different focus:
Monday 2nd May: What is Maternal Mental Health?
An overview of the different illnesses that affect people in the perinatal period.
Tuesday 3rd May: Smashing The Stigma
Around 20% of women experience perinatal mental illness but a survey by PMHP UK shows that many feel unable to seek treatment due to perceived stigma.
Wednesday 4th May: World Maternal Mental Health Day | Stronger Together
The global theme for this year is Stronger Together.
PMHP will feature advice from health care professionals about the range of treatments and support available to help women recover, from medication and therapy to voluntary sector and safe peer support.
They are also encouraging charities, local peer support groups and services to share their details on social media so families know what support is available across the UK.
Thursday 5th May: Health Care Professionals – Information Hub
A day to highlight information about perinatal mental illness for health care professionals to enable them to better support all families.
Friday 6th May: ‘Perinatal Positivity Pot
This day will focus on how we can work together to remove barriers to support so that every family in the UK who needs help can access services.
Saturday 7th May: Support for all
This day will explore what support is available for all families in the perinatal period through a number of information sessions highlighting organisations across the UK and their work.
Sunday 8th May: Day of reflection
The last day of the Awareness Week will be spent looking back and reflecting on the information that has been shared across the week.
Get involved
Please join the conversation during Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week to reduce stigma, spread good practice and help women and families impacted by perinatal mental health problems to feel seen, heard and supported.
#MaternalMHmatters