Perinatal Mental Health

1 in 4 women suffers from some kind of mental health illnesses in the UK. The impact of this is far-reaching, affecting not only on the mother but the child. Perinatal mental health currently costs the NHS £8.1bn per year. The greatest cause of death amongst mothers in the UK during the first year after birth is suicide. There are currently 21 Mother & Baby Units in the UK, providing less than 200 beds. However, only the women who are at the greatest risk to themselves or their babies can be admitted. The majority of women who suffer from mental health illness remain unsupported in their communities. It is these mothers who are at the greatest risk of suicide.

MamaBabyBliss (MBB) has a network of 30 teachers. Through MamaBabyMercy our aim is to enable our teachers to reach out to the most vulnerable communities including, mothers who suffer from perinatal mental illness.

To provide specialist training so that MBB Teachers would be fully equipped to offer MBB therapies tailored to these two audiences. Following the training MBB Teachers would be able to: set up community out-reach support groups within their communities be able to offer MBB therapies to mothers in the NHS Mother & Baby Units offer MBB therapies to mothers and babies in women’s refuges.

Below is the list of units and locations trained for Mother and Baby Yoga and Relaxation techniques: Rainbow Mother and Baby Unit in Chelmsford

These include:

Perinatal Mental Health

Vanessa Taylor Head of Perinatal Wellbeing and NHS Training

Rose Ribberd – a MamaBabyBliss Teacher, a mother who was in the Derby Mother & Baby Unit and now is a MamaBabyBliss Teacher

Rebecca McCann – a psychotherapist who specialises in perinatal Mental Health.

The training would be delivered across two days by expert trainers who have specialist and first-hand knowledge in these fields.