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On Wednesday 16^th May I had the pleasure to present at ‘What’s new in Perinatal Mental Health?’ at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital. The event was co-hosted by the hospital trust and the Northwest region of the Marce Society. The society is dedicated to supporting research and assistance surrounding prenatal & postpartum mental health for mothers, fathers and their babies.

I was invited to speak on behalf of  The Joanne (Joe) Bingley Memorial Foundation on Joe’s story and why perinatal mental health is important. My co-presenter was friend and colleague, Ann Girling.

Dr Helen Scholefield opened the event and then her colleagues Pam Russell, Jackie Rotheram and Noreen Clarke described the service offered at the Liverpool Women’s hospital for perinatal mental health – see http://www.dmgz.co.uk/nhs/merseycares/vol5iss6/

Ann and I then took the stand following an introduction from Dr. Carol Henshaw. I gave a brief outline of my story of puerperal psychosis; then Joe’s tragedy, followed by media details of Felicia Boot, who had taken the lives of her babies a few days earlier, reportedly whilst suffering from postnatal depression, e.g. Sky news. Ann continued with effects that postnatal depression had on her later in life. We played our own photo collage along with Rascal Flatts ‘Why’, entitled ‘Why perinatal mental health is important’. Here are the lyrics.

One delegate told me later how we had reignited her purpose and drive to help families.

Ann and I concluded with how we aim to continue spreading knowledge and awareness of the illness through our workshops.

After our music and talk, Dr Margaret Oates gave her presentation on ‘Psychiatric causes of maternal death’. As always, she presented very serious data in a compelling and informative way, laced with humour. I completely agree with her comment

‘You don’t get Brownie points if you keep a woman at home to be treated for postpartum haemorrhage, so why does that seem to be the case if a woman has a severe mental illness?’

Sometimes hospital care is what is needed.

Next was Dr Ian Jones, from Cardiff University, talking on ‘Postpartum psychosis – known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns’. He recommended the book  ‘Hillybilly Gothic – A memoir of motherhood and madness, by Adrienne Martini.’

He also told us about some online learning modules:-

‘Pregnancy and Childbirth in women with Bi-Polar disorder’

Identifying Women at risk – a learning programme for Midwives’

I highly recommend them – please share and send any feedback to Ian at jonesir1@cf.ac.uk

Before lunch we heard from Chris Healey, University of Liverpool, with her paper on ‘Deliberate self harm during pregnancy and the postpartum: An audit of all referrals to a specialist antenatal mental health team over 12-months.’

Over a networking lunch we chatted to many delegates. These included Peter Slater, who helps his daughter with the charity http://www.breakthesilence-pni.org/ .

It was wonderful to reconnect with Louise Wardale who does amazing work with Barnardos in Liverpool, for example, http://www.barnardos.org.uk/resources/research_and_publications/keeping-the-family-in-mind-resource-pack-2nd-edition/publication-view.jsp?pid=PUB-1600

Also it was good to meet Julie Rawlinson from PSS Postnatal Depression Project – see their video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtml–cDqwU

After lunch we heard from Sarah Hovington, who talked about her study – ‘Postnatal depression: barriers to engagement and retention in a primary care psychological service’.

Sarah is also editor of ‘Healthcare – counselling and psychotherapy journal’. A special edition on perinatal mental health is being planned.

The day ended with Dr Art O’Malley, 5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Foundation Trust who shared his ‘New dynamic model of therapy in Perinatal and infant mental health: Bilateral Affective Reprocessing of Thoughts (BART Psychotherapy)’.

I felt honoured to be part of such a wealth of knowledge and experience.

A testimonial like this one made the day even better ..

‘Just wanted to say that I thought your talk yesterday was amazing. Very moving indeed. I did hear you speak a few years ago at a conference down in Winchester and have read your book. I think you are incredibly brave. Unfortunately there is still a lot of stigma around mental illness, but even more stigma when it comes to self-harm. I think your willingness to talk about such issues so confidently and openly must give many women and their families (who are currently suffering) a great deal of hope. It also makes you an excellent ambassador for the ‘recovery model’ in terms of what can be achieved following this devastating illness.’

(Chris Healey, Research Associate to Professor Peter Kinderman, Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, University of Liverpool.)

For Ann and I it was the first time we had presented this particular keynote, so we were delighted at the positive reactions and hope to repeat it soon. We did also receive a couple of comments of ways in which the presentation could have been improved and shall positively apply these next time.

I enjoyed the day and especially reconnecting with some people. I feel encouraged that in the northwest there remain a dedicated and passionate team of people who are striving to make pregnancy and early parenthood happier for others, by creating ways of improving their mental health.

Elaine