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I had a message recently from a lady who suffered with postnatal illness after the birth of her son 9 years ago. She strongly feels that better awareness and training of midwives around mental health could have reduced the impact of her condition and asked me ‘Are we any closer to getting something more compulsory and stringent put in place?’

It has been long overdue – I do feel optimistic that the changes that many of us have been pushing for ARE finally being heard. Here are some of the ways that are increasingly ‘out there’.

1. 1001 Critical Days.  Under the previous Government an all-party Parliamentary group was formed to look at the importance and impact of conception to age 2. This includes a range of topics including infant mental health, perinatal mental health, infant feeding, etc. There is going to be a relaunch of this next week at an event in Parliament. Now 8 parties are signed up to it and an increasing number of MPs are too. PLEASE WRITE TO YOUR MP AND TELL THEM WHY THIS MATTERS AND TO GET INVOLVED.
2. The latest MBRRACE report was published this week that looks at infant and maternal deaths. Once again we read that suicide is a leading cause of maternal deaths and over half of those in the last few years have been considered as preventable.  We have even more proof ‘hot off the press’ that lives can be saved. Use this information to push your local commissioners.
3. The media. Increasingly the media are featuring information and ‘stories’ featuring perinatal mental health. The EastEnders storyline for Christmas Day has been released – this concerns one of the characters developing puerperal psychosis.  I am so pleased that two of my friends from the perinatal world were actively involved in this as they have suffered the same illness and have advised the script writers and actors accordingly. Due to the reports, the media are featuring more articles. I spoke to a journalist from the Daily Mail this week. Even if some articles are not as helpful as they could be, it still helps to illustrate how common perinatal mental health challenges are.
4. I am encouraged by the number of student midwifery societies who are asking myself and others to speak at study days. Last week I was delighted to be part of such a day at York University. Have a look at Mia’s blog following the event.
5. Other parents sharing their stories. When my first book ‘Eyes without Sparkle – a journey through postnatal illness’ was published 10 years ago, there was very little written about lived experience of severe postnatal illness and psychosis. There are now an increasing number of books and many more accounts in blogs and websites, e.g. http://www.app-network.org/  This helps women and their families to know that they are not alone and ways that have helped or hindered others in their journey.
6. Support set up and run by past sufferers of perinatal mental illness. Rosey Wren has been incredible in her tenacity with #PNDHour on Twitter. The 100^th session and 2^nd birthday party are both coming up. Cocoon Family support in London is another shining light.
7. National Maternity Review  has been commissioned to look at better maternity care in general. This has lead to extra work in my locality, e.g.   Improving Me
8. Growing number of groups associated with perinatal mental health and improvements in maternity care. These include UKPEA  and Maternity Experience
9. The Maternal Mental Health Alliance was formed a few years ago and brought together a wide range of services, professionals and charities involved in perinatal mental health. The growing numbers mean that our joint voices are being heard more.
10. Campaigns to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness, e.g. Time to Change 
11. Global interest and support. Postpartum Progress  is an excellent USA blog that is a gold-mine of information, encouragement and support. The Gidget Foundation  in Australia is also a great resource.
12. Nursing and Midwifery Council. A few months ago I wrote how disappointed I was at a Public and Patient Advisory Group meeting held in London. I am delighted to say that they listened to all the comments and the subsequent meeting on 2nd December was so much better. Although the agenda here is not specially focussed on perinatal mental heath care it is about getting the best from some of those involved in the systems of support. It was much appreciated to feel that our suggestions for improvements in nursing and midwifery were aired. The next stage is to work on progress.

At a personal level I can see that perinatal mental health has become higher on training needs and awareness. Just this week alone I have been invited to speak in New Zealand,  Abergele, Hertfordshire and London. Plans are in place to have two more conferences on my new book  in London and Scotland in the spring. If you would like to win a copy, please see the TIPS newsletter. We had a very productive conference in London organised by Healthcare Conferences on perinatal mental health. There was an excellent range of speakers and topics including Professor Louise Howard who outlined the NICE guidelines; a brilliant ‘sliding doors’ example of what works best for women with perinatal mental health challenges when people work together, by Dr Jo Black from Devon and Torbay Perinatal Mental Health team; Harriet Clarke spoke on the Quality Network for PMH as part of the Royal College of Psychiatrists; Professor Vivette Glover presented on the impacts of the unborn child due to antenatal mental health problems; Mark Williams talked to us about the needs of the fathers; Dr Jane Hanley presented on Listening skills and we had a very impressive talk on peer support groups from Kathryn Grant. It was a very stimulating day and I’m delighted to say that there are plans to repeat it in early May due to demand.

On Wednesday I had a strong feeling of optimism. I was invited to a briefing meeting in the Houses of Parliament along with a small number of other people involved in the 1001 Critical Days by the inspirational Clair Rees , the chair of the group. Her passion, warmth and dedication to this campaign is infectious. I felt humbled to be included in such a distinguished group of individuals, including Professor Vivette Glover, Susan Pawlby and Alan Gregoire. One lady I was introduced to was Penelope Leach  who has written many books in her career. I have some of them! We were able to network and Clair was encouraged to get some more MPs involved. Clair, Penelope and I had our lunch together and then went to sit in the public gallery of the Houses of Parliament. There was a debate on seeking parity of esteem for mental health with physical health. It felt surreal to actually be there! So often I have seen it on television so to be there was exciting. The best thing was to hear a very eloquent talk by  Luciana Berger on the need for better services and investment for mental health. She mentioned ‘perinatal’ several times!

We also heard Jeremy Hunt  the Health Minister, talk about many aspects of mental health. He commented on the ‘bravery’ of several members of ‘The House’ speaking openly about their own mental health challenges. He also referred to perinatal mental health. He also quoted President Obama on his belief that we need to deal with the stigma associated with mental health.

We left before the debate ended. I was stunned later to discover that the motion had been voted ‘against’! What? I’m am puzzled as all those who spoke from both parties appeared to support the ideas.  The transcript is here 

Clair told us that there is going to be a three hour presentation in the House on the 1001 Critical Days before Christmas. PLEASE contact your MP to let them know how important this is.

I was encouraged by the debate in Parliament last week in the simple fact it was on the agenda. Tomorrow I shall be honoured and excited to part of a growing group of dedicated, inspiring and determined people at Parliament to keep on making sure that the need for perinatal mental health awareness and services are improved.

Let’s all continue to work together to keep it there and get the action and funding that perinatal mental health needs. The optimism in me believes that we are getting closer to this happening.

Elaine 🙂