Below are some useful resources about perinatal mental health and information for partners and family members.
Self-care / self-help resources
- Mind: Self-care tips for pregnancy and after having a baby (opens in a new tab)
- Mind: General self-care tips (opens in a new tab)
- The Mind website also has a lot of excellent resources on all of the major mental health problems, including self-care tips specific to each diagnosis.
- Maternal Mental health Alliance: Mental health and Wellbeing tips for during and after pregnancy (opens in a new tab)
- Tommy’s: Wellbeing Tips in pregnancy (opens in a new tab)
- Perinatal positivity: a selection of links on resources that may help with self-care (opens in a new tab)
Mindfulness and grounding techniques
Podcasts
- Motherkind (opens in a new tab) - Zoe Blaskey - brings you some of the best wellbeing teachers in the world to help you find your calm, happy place in the hectic pace of modern mum life.
- We Can Do Hard Things (opens in a new tab) - Hosted by Untamed author Glennon Doyle, along with her wife Abby Wambach and sister Amanda Doyle, We Can Do Hard Things (the title a nod to Doyle’s personal mantra) focuses on life’s difficulties and ways to deal with them.
- Good inside (opens in a new tab) - Podcast from a clinical psychologist on parent advice while also prioritising parental mental health and wellbeing.
- Perinatal mental health podcasts (opens in a new tab)
- https://wellmindperinatal.com/momandmindpodcast/ (opens in a new tab)
- https://therapyforblackgirls.com/podcast/ (opens in a new tab)
Attachment and bonding
- Attachment and bonding during pregnancy: information and advice (opens in a new tab)
- Developing a relationship with your baby: information and advice (opens in a new tab)
- Spending time with your baby: information and advice (opens in a new tab)
- https://www.tommys.org/pregnancy-information/after-birth/bonding-your-baby (opens in a new tab)
- Unicef (opens in a new tab) - A range of resources on building close loving relationships between parents and babies.
Helplines and other forms of direct support
- PANDAS Foundation UK (opens in a new tab) - Support and advice for any parent who is experiencing a perinatal mental illness.
Telephone: 0843 2898 401
Email: PANDAS Foundation - https://www.birthtraumaassociation.org/get-help-now (opens in a new tab)
- https://www.tommys.org/about-us/our-people/tommys-midwives (opens in a new tab)
- https://pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk/ (opens in a new tab)
- breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk (opens in a new tab) - 0300 100 0212 - Support and information about breastfeeding and perinatal mental health.
- Find a variety of national and local mental health helplines and other sources of direct support (opens in a new tab)
Information and support
- Maternal Mental Health Alliance (opens in a new tab) is a UK charity dedicated to ensuring women and families affected by perinatal mental problems have access to high-quality comprehensive care and support. This webpage lists a number of useful groups and self-help resources for mental health and wellbeing.
- Cambridgeshire Child and Family Centres (opens in a new tab) offer groups, events, activities, courses and support for families with children aged 0-19.
- Mind (opens in a new tab) offer a range of services, courses and support groups across Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and South Lincolnshire to support women aged over 18.
- Keep Your Head (opens in a new tab) contains a wealth of information on mental health services, voluntary sector and local authority organisations.
- https://www.heartsandmindspartnership.org/parents/additional-services (opens in a new tab) - A list of other organisations and resources providing information and support on a range of topics that may be related to perinatal mental health difficulties, such as baby loss.
- https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/postnatal-depression-and-perinatal-mental-health/useful-contacts/ (opens in a new tab) - A list of contacts for organisations that support with topics either directly or indirectly related to perinatal mental health problems.
- https://supportmecic.com/ (opens in a new tab) - Online support for families across the UK, free to those who are on low incomes, who are Black or Asian, and/or who speak English as a second language.
Specifically for loved ones of parents experiencing mental health difficulties
- Mind - How to help someone who's struggling in pregnancy, or after having a new baby (opens in a new tab) . The Mind website also has a lot of information on perinatal mental health problems (opens in a new tab) if you wish to educate yourself on what your loved one may be going through (although everyone’s experience is unique).
- Postpartum Psychosis - A guide for partners (opens in a new tab)
- Depression and low mood - A guide for partners (opens in a new tab)
- Action on Postpartum Psychosis (opens in a new tab) - with the help of those who have been through Postpartum Psychosis, APP have produced a free Postpartum Psychosis Insider Guide for Partners. Use this link to get the free guide and access more in-depth information to read in Conjunction with the guide.
- Making Space, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Carer Support Service (opens in a new tab) offers support to people caring for a family member or loved one with a mental health condition.
Resources for dads’mental health (some may be inclusive of other non-gestational parents, and/or gestational dads)
- Mind: Can fathers and partners get postnatal depression? (opens in a new tab)
- https://changemh.org/resources/fathers-and-mental-health/ (opens in a new tab)
- Mental Health Foundation - Becoming Dad: a guide for new fathers (opens in a new tab)
- The Fatherhood Institute (opens in a new tab) - The UK’s fatherhood think-and-do tank.
- PANDAS Foundation (opens in a new tab) - Amongst other support, offers closed Facebook groups for Dads.