Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA)

We join Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA) in calling for more investment in maternal mental health services. New report finds funding shortages are causing longer wait times and closures, leaving vulnerable people without vital support. Read the report: https://lnkd.in/efwW8pEm

A huge thank you to everyone who supported our #OutOfTheShadows 🌕 campaign this week, whether by donating, sharing your story, or spreading the word. Your generosity and courage have helped us raise vital funds to build a new content hub for parents, breaking the silence around perinatal mental health. We’re already brimming with ideas and excited to get started! Special thanks to our wonderful collaborators.

We’re in the final hour of our #OutOfTheShadows 🌕 campaign! Your support can make all the difference in these final moments. Many parents experience the “baby blues” after birth, a temporary feeling of sadness, anxiety, or overwhelm. But for some, these feelings don’t go away and can turn into something more serious: perinatal mental illness. Knowing the difference between the two is vital, and it’s something we want every parent to understand. With your support, we can build a free, accessible content hub to help parents recognise the signs, understand their mental health, and seek the support they need. This is your last chance to double your donation and double your impact. Help us bring perinatal mental health #OutOfTheShadows 🌕 and ensure that no parent faces these challenges alone. Donate now before time runs out: https://lnkd.in/gixGYVdY

'The moment I realised I wasn't alone changed everything' Our Lived Experience Champion Kayleigh talks about the pivotal moment in her journey through poor perinatal mental health that made her realise that she is not in the shadows alone. The huge impact of having a safe space to talk to other new mums about the realities of this phase of life led Kayleigh to create Mamma Social Co and bring parents and carers together, to create meaningful connections with others and combat the loneliness that can be felt as a new parent or carer. When we talk and open up with someone we trust, we realise there are many of us struggling with poor perinatal mental health in the shadows and although we think we are alone, we are not. We're raising money with the Big Give #WGMF to build an online hub of much needed information about perinatal mental health. Having the right information about mental health shines a light through the shadows, it helps us understand what is happening, it removes the shame we can feel, it helps us know how to have a conversation and advocate for ourselves or for others. It's our sincere hope that it helps those suffering access the help they need earlier. Until midday today, your donations the MMHA via the Big Give will be doubled (up to our £10k target), please join with us to bring perinatal mental health #OutOfTheShadows 🌕 Double your donation, double your impact: https://lnkd.in/eqRw3HNg

There are too many 'wish i'd knowns' when it comes to experiencing a perinatal mental health problem. People are too often blindsided when their mental health suffers during pregnancy and in the early years following birth, often meaning that people don't seek help early, if at all and can suffer for longer. We can't continue to let new parents suffer silently. With more credible information available in the public domain, we can give light and normality to things that have been difficult to talk about in the open. Help us spread compassion, without judgement, but with hope and solidarity 🌔 💜 Your donation helps us spread more light, by allowing us to build a credible and accessible information hub on our website about perinatal mental health. Donations via the Big Give website before midday tomorrow (17th October) will be doubled by The Big Give Trust!  See link in comments to donate. Double your donation, double your difference and let's pass on the light to the generation behind us. #OutOfTheShadows #WGMF #BigGive #PerinatalMentalHealth #EveryonesBusiness #MakeAllCareCount

MMHA Lived Experience Champion Leanne, a Community Perinatal Mental Health Nurse, shares some essential things to know about your mental health when on a journey into parenthood, whether it's your first child or you are expanding your family. It's also essential for those networks around us - family, friends, colleagues - to know and spot the signs of something 'different', open up a conversation and offer a safe listening ear. When we talk and open up with someone we trust, we realise there are many of us in the shadows, we are not alone and help is available. Awareness of the signs and symptoms across the range of perinatal mental health problems is tragically low, we hear "I didn't know what was happening to me" far too much. We have to change that. Until midday tomorrow, 17th October, your donations to @MMHAlliance via @biggiveorg will be doubled (up to our £10k target), helping build a new content hub dedicated to perinatal mental health for everyone to learn and help themselves, or someone they know. Double your donation, double your impact: https://lnkd.in/gixGYVdY Let’s be the change. Let’s bring perinatal mental health #OutOfTheShadows 🌔

Navigating pregnancy and early motherhood can be challenging enough but, for some, the journey is overshadowed by perinatal mental illness. In her deeply personal guest blog, our ambassador Dr Krystal Wilkinson walks us through her experience of reaching crisis point, seeking support, and finding hope. Her story reminds us of the importance of specialist care, the power of community, and the important message that recovery is possible: https://lnkd.in/eNbanzGS Until midday tomorrow, 17th October, your donations to the MMHA via the Big Give will be doubled, helping build a new content hub dedicated to perinatal mental health and the questions parents (and those around them) are too afraid to ask out loud. There's just 24 hours left: https://lnkd.in/gixGYVdY Let’s bring the conversation around perinatal mental health #OutOfTheShadows 🌔 and into the light.

Perinatal mental health challenges affect at least 1 in 5 mums and 1 in 10 dads, yet stigma remains a barrier that keeps many silent. The fear of judgment, shame, or misunderstanding can outweigh the willingness to speak up. For some, the decision to disclose their struggles can feel like stepping into the light, but stigma can force many to stay in the shadows, suffering in silence. As a result, individuals miss the opportunity to access the care they deserve. Our #OutOfTheShadows 🌔 campaign shines a light on these hidden struggles, advocating for a world where every parent is well-informed and feels safe to share how they're feeling without fear. Your donation can help us ensure that stigma no longer dictates whether someone gets the help they need, and until midday on 17th October it will be matched by the Big Give: https://lnkd.in/gixGYVdY Let’s create a future where every parent can come #OutOfTheShadows 🌔

Here at the Maternal Mental Health Alliance, we hear the words "I felt so alone" far too often. As our lived experience champion Lucie perfectly sums up: "If the mums I meet every week didn't have to put on a brave face and knew they weren't the only person in the room struggling, they'd all have an immediate support network.' The importance of peer support, opening up to friends, family and people you trust cannot be understated. With at least 1 in 5 women and birthing people experiencing a perinatal mental health problem, chances are someone you know has been through it or is going through it too. In the upcoming film WITCHES, Elizabeth Sankey powerfully explores the experiences of others as well as her own, including our own MMHA Ambassador Dr Krystal Wilkinson , and the power of finding your 'coven'. So many mums tell us they wish they'd known more and had got help earlier. Raising awareness and tackling stigma through accessible information can help prevent suffering and even lives. So we're raising money with the Big Give #WGMF to build a new content hub for parents (and those around them). A free, reassuring and credible space to learn about mental health before, during and after pregnancy. Our goal is to inspire sensitive, nuanced conversations and hopeful social narratives about perinatal mental health. See comments to donate. From now until 17th Oct it will be doubled by the Big Give. WITCHES is available to stream globally from 22 Nov. Let's bring perinatal mental health #OutOfTheShadows 🌓 and into the light.

Why do so few people talk about perinatal mental health? Here, MMHA Champion Sapna shares her experience. She describes feeling anxious and having intrusive thoughts after the birth of her first child, struggling with breastfeeding, and feeling inadequate as a mother. However, after reaching out, Sapna found a community that helped her validate what she was going through and access to peer support groups and counselling. Sapna's advice? 1. Be brave 2. Seek help 3. Know that you are not alone. Until midday on 17th October any donation you make via the Big Give will be doubled, helping build a new content hub dedicated to perinatal mental health and the questions parents are too afraid to ask out loud.