Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week 2024
Perinatal mental health (PMH) refers to mental ill health during pregnancy and the first postnatal year. In the UK, 1 in 5 women develop a mental illness during pregnancy or first postnatal year. Undiagnosed or untreated PMH problems can lead to depression, anxiety, and can negatively affect the interaction between a mother and her baby, affecting the child’s emotional, social and cognitive development. In severe cases, PMH problems can lead to suicide.
What is Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week?
Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week is organised and led by the Perinatal Mental Health Partnership UK (PMHP UK) – a small group of women with lived experience who came together to raise awareness of maternal mental health.
This week-long campaign focuses on raising awareness of mental health issues that new mums and mums-to-be may be experiencing. Some key areas of focus include:
- Raising public and professional awareness of perinatal mental health problems
- Advocating for women and families impacted
- Changing attitudes
- Helping people access the information, care and support they need to recover.
This year’s theme is “Rediscovering You” and the PMHP UK have created daily themes for the week which you can read more about here.
Our contribution to improving maternal health
We recently conducted a project in collaboration with the Healthwatch teams from Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, and Kensington & Chelsea to understand how the standards of maternal care vary across North West London.
We heard from 207 patients and gave recommendations to service providers including with regards to sharing clear information about postnatal services with all patients after giving birth and embedding listening culture into maternity services to ensure that patients’ experiences and concerns are taken seriously. To find out more, you can read the full report here.
Contact details
For more information you can visit the Maternal Mental Health Alliance website or search for the following hashtags on social media #RediscoveringYou or #MaternalMHMatters
Alternatively, you can follow the campaign on social media:
