Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week is a week-long campaign (2nd – 8th May) dedicated to talking about mental health challenges during and after pregnancy.

At Home-Start, we support mothers-to-be and new mums at a time when things can sometimes seem overwhelming and challenging. Motherhood can be great, but many mums can also feel anxious, isolated, and unable to see a clear way ahead.

Jessica Greenhalf, Director of Home-Start London said: “For us, Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week is not simply another awareness date in the calendar. Throughout the year and throughout our work, we are committed to encouraging mothers-to-be and new mums to access the support that can be so vital to their mental health, particularly in those early days. Our volunteers are here to support mums as they adjust to their new role as a parent. They are usually parents themselves and this offers such a valuable way to form connections with the families we work with.”

As part of Home-Start London’s work in perinatal mental health, we recently partnered with Central North-West London NHS Community Perinatal Mental Health Services (CNWL). With our partners, we delivered a 20-month long project to provide volunteer peer support to 89 women and their families in five London boroughs who were accessing community perinatal mental health services. The support was provided by three Home-Starts within the London network through specially trained volunteers: Home-Start Barnet, Brent, Enfield and Harrow, Home-Start Hillingdon, and Home-Start Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham.

Following the ending of the project, the participants were asked to complete an online questionnaire about the support. The results were hugely heartening:

  • 90% of respondents advised their feelings of isolation had reduced
  • 80% felt the support had helped them to built their confidence
  • 80% advised the support had helped them to reduce stress and anxiety

Jessica continues: “Our partnership with CNWL shows what is possible with the support of our volunteers. It shows what is possible with the power of connection.”

#ThePowerOfConnection is this year’s theme for Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week. Home-Start harnesses #ThePowerOfConnection to support families at the start of their parenting journey. Together, we aim to reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation in new mothers.  Together, we support mums through their toughest times.

As one Home-Start mum who participated in the project said:

“It seems that a lot of medical care for mental health is focused on helping people once they reach crisis point. I think Home-Start helps prevent people reaching that point.”

One of the Perinatal Psychiatric Specialist Nurse who worked on the partnership added:

“Without Home-Start, some of those women could have ended up becoming more unwell and coming back”.

As we continue into Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week 2022, we know that:

  • 1 in 5 women develop a mental illness during pregnancy or within the first year of having a baby
  • 7 in 10 women will hide or downplay the severity of their perinatal mental illness
  • Suicide is the leading cause of death for women during pregnancy and one year after birth
  • The number of men who become depressed in the first year after becoming a father is double that of the general population
  • 1 in 500 new mums will experience Postpartum Psychosis

If you need support, please do not struggle alone. Find your local Home-Start here.

Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week is organised by the Perinatal Mental Health Partnership UK (PMHP UK). Visit their site for more information, advice, and events throughout the campaign.