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I was delighted to attend Amplifying Maternal Voices – Perinatal Mental Health Conference 2023 in London recently as a Champion of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance. The top photo is of me with fellow champions at the event. This is a summary of the day with many links, future events and possible contacts for you to explore. It is intended as a post FULL of information, so please do share with those who have an interest in this area.

The event was a combined production by MMHA and the Mental Health Foundation.  The day was hosted brilliantly by Maria Bavetta

Thanks to Leanne Howlett for the photo

We were brought up to date by Sian Drinkwater, Community Engagement Lead and her colleagues, on the Amplifying Maternal Voices Project. (AMV). This project aims to improve mothers’ and families’ access to support for their mental health, and is a collaboration between the Mental Health Foundation and the Maternal Mental Health Alliance. The two-year AMV project will spotlight the maternal mental health experiences of mothers from seldom-heard communities across the UK, including young mums, single mums, and those from culturally diverse backgrounds. In pursuit of accessible care for all women, babies, and families, we will host a conference and learning event to break down barriers and produce an Engagement Toolkit  to inspire action and change at a local level.

Photo by Cat23 

Photo by Maternal Mental Health Alliance of the Amplifying Maternal Voices team

Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent OBE, Chief Midwifery Officer NHS England and NHS Improvement, was the keynote speaker who encouraged us all in the progress that has been made in perinatal mental health and supported the improvements to be made. I loved her message that healthcare professionals must ‘Listen, hear and act in a mutually agreeable way’ with the people in their care.

Thanks to Mark Rowland  for the photo

Dr. Yasmin Mulji – NHS Specialist Registrar in Obstetrics and Gynaecology and trustee at Maternal Mental Health Alliance, started her session on ‘Language Barriers in Service Provision’ by speaking to us about a maternity emergency in a different language. It made the point perfectly about how terrifying it can be if you do not understand and how we should always strive to ensure all can comprehend. Her key message was:

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

Shavarnah Joseph – Style my Mind CIC, shared her story of being a young, single Mum and the steps she now takes to help others.

Photo from mothers_for_mothers 

Miles Carabine, Project Coordinator Mental Health Foundation gave a creative performance,  from a male perspective, of perinatal mental health. Natalie Nuttall  wrote: ‘Beautiful poetry from @MilesDotRaphael re family narratives, identity, societal expectations, stories and tropes. A profound call to reconcile the disconnects in humanity.’ 

Photo by milesdotraphael I performed a new poem at the #amplifyingmaternalvoices conference last week. The poem was about my past (growing up in a single parent household) and my present (fatherhood in a blended family). The experience as whole, my future. This was the first time I have combined both my professional and creative lives in a singularly, purposeful way. It felt fitting that the theme was #breakingbarriers because to contribute, I had to break my own.

Jennifer Ogunyemi – Founder of Sisters in Business, gave a talk on her lived experience as a black Muslim woman in the maternity system. The importance of focusing on ‘understand’, do we truly understand needs and the assumptions of religious familiarity and it’s challenges were her key messages.

Photo by Gillian Meens

Rivki Dwek – Founder of Menucha (Jewish Perinatal Support Group) spoke on the importance of community based working organisations alongside NHS and Perinatal teams.

Photo by Farah Lunat  Some brilliant learning from the @menucha_london awareness and education model

Sandra Igwe – Founder & CEO of The Motherhood Group, Author of My Black Motherhood spoke passionately on current gaps in perinatal mental healthcare for Black women and the factors that can improve outcomes and experiences. Natalie Nuttall  from Smile Group Tweeted: Always inspiring to watch @sandeeigwe  speak with such impact about erosion of trust, ineffective engagement & systemic barriers to supporting black & brown women in the perinatal experience.

Photo by Leanne Howlett 

There were three breakout sessions

• Supporting Mothers Seeking Sanctuary A collaborative discussion where the Maternity Consultant for the City of Sanctuary UK Maternity Stream highlighted best practice and guidance for those working with mother’s with lived experience as a refugee or asylum seeker presented by Katherine Letley, Rose McCarthy and Wan Abdullah
  Wan Abdullah Tweeted: ‘Loads of happiness on my amazing maternity journey in UK started with my GP, HAMLA specialist Midwives, Antenatal Care Class @RoseatMcCarthy
  & PerinatalMentalHealth team.’
• Improving Equity in Perinatal Mental Health Led by Christina Brown of Motivational Mum’s Club, a Community Group providing free mental health support for women. Christina shared best practice of how to provide mental health support in an accessible manner.
  Natalie Nuttall  commented ‘Very moved by Chrissy from @mumsclub “Let there be a human approach, not a tick box exercise. Women want to be seen.” Such incredible presence & powerful messaging. #amplifyingmaternalvoices

  The Hearts & Minds Partnership tweeted: Listening to Chrissy speak about the conception of @mmumsclub as a result of her own #perinatalmentalhealth challenges. So many beautiful services have developed on the back of gaping holes in service provision. The #VCSE community is incredible. #amplifyingmaternalvoices
• Supporting Young Mothers Presentation and discussion on best practice for young mothers led by the Mental Health Foundation’s Young Mum’s Connect Project Katrina Jenkins and Jayde Edwards.
  
  Photo of the team by https://twitter.com/JaydeTEdwards

After a very tasty lunch, we were back in the main auditorium to listen to an an audio of Fatima’s Lived Experience account. There are more champion stories here.

The next sessions focused upon research:

• Doctors of the World – Briony Tatem, research and data coordinator and  Sonita Ibadin, National Health Advisor spoke about the findings from the Maternity-care-report Inequalities in maternity care experienced by migrant pregnant women and their babies. Here is the link to the full report .
• Introducing Roshni2 Project by Professor Nusrat Husain (Merseycare NHS Trust & University of Manchester) and Farah Lunat (Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust) of ROSHNI2, Perinatal Project supporting British mothers of South Asian origin. “We wanted to give the community ownership of the project and know their involvement was helping to improve care for other South Asian women.” @F_lunat @ROSHNI2_

Photo by Gillian Meens 

• Motherhood & severe Mental Illness: perinatal mental healthcare and women’s experiences of stigma – work in progress  by Charlene Colegate PhD – University of Sheffield, Research focusing on preliminary findings from an ongoing qualitative study, in which in-depth interviews with 20 women with a personal or family history of SMI have been conducted.

• 

  Photo by Gillian Meens
• Transport and Maternal Mental Health – Addressing barriers around transport so that mothers can access all kinds of support for their health. Laura Richmond – Motability Researcher and fellow MMHA champion. Laura is close to completing her memoir of her journey of Perinatal Mental Illness. It can be preordered.

The  conference was brought to a close by  Dr.Karen Joash – Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology – who spoke on the importance of tailoring support and key takeaways to inspire action. Mothers for Mothers shared this photo and comment:  Such a bonus when the last speaker of the day is a superstar! @MMHAlliance #Amplifyingmaternalvoices Wonderful to have time today with our former trustee @karenjoash #onlyobstetricianintheroom

Maaya  commented: Thank you for this model based on your experiences @karenjoash Very insightful  #breakingbarriers #Amplifyingmaternalvoices

I loved Maria’s final closing remark of Maria’s closing remarks: “We haven’t come this far to only come this far.”

I reflected on how far we HAVE come in the UK regarding perinatal mental health. When I first spoke out about it and shared my story through my book, ‘Eyes without Sparkle – a journey through postnatal illness‘, there were very few services. I feel very proud to have been involved from 2005 in ‘shouting out’ for how we needed to do far more. I thought of Dr. Alain Gregoire, the founder of MMHA and the recently departed Dr. Margaret Oates along with many others and how they pioneered for more services. I remember being very nervous to be the opening keynote speaker at the The International Marcé Society for Perinatal Mental Health  conference in 2006. What a long way we have come since then. Yes, we still have much more to do and there is an ‘army’ out there doing so.

Dr Alain Gregoire and I at the MMHA 10th birthday celebration in London 19th May 2022

It was also an excellent opportunity to network and meet people from the past; those I have only known virtually and new contacts.

I remember during lockdown, I had written a blog about looking forward to wearing my red boots at events rather than being on-line, wearing my slippers. I dusted my red boots off for this conference.  It was brilliant to see the incredible Eve Canavan there – she was wearing bright pink boots! That simply had to be a photo opportunity.

During the event the Perinatal Mental Health Partnership announced the theme of the next Maternal Mental Awareness week as ‘Together In A Changing World’.

I also reconnected with Priyanka Mahajan who now has set up https://www.joinammi.com/  that provides new families with direct access to a variety of parent and infant health and wellness experts through online and offline events.

Stalls

Birth without fear – Emilie Wicks

Home Start – Dad’s Matter Kieran Anderson

Blueskye Al – Tom Lodge and Julie Mernick

Five X More Tinuke Awe and Clo Abe

Future events of interest:

Black Maternal Mental Health conference  Mon, 20 March 2023, 09:00 – 17:00 GMT, London.

Perinatal Mental Health Digital Conference Chaired by: Laura Seebohm, CEO, Maternal Mental Health Alliance Tuesday 18th April 2023  09:00 – 13:45 

Perinatal Partnership Awareness Week – Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week 1 – 7 May 2023

Perinatal Mental Health Services: Improving access and support. Friday 7^th July, virtual. I am chairing and speaking at this conference.

Useful resources:

The 25th edition of MMHA’s Everyone’s Business Campaign eBulletin  Sign up to receive future ones.

Supporting High-Quality Perinatal Mental Health Care   has been produced by the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) in partnership with the Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA)

Some other comments from Twitter that link to useful resources

Finally I wish to say thank you to:

• MMHA for my travel and delegate place at the conference.
• To all the excellent speakers and planning by MMHA and the Mental Health Foundation.
• The hospitality provided by the venue ISH Venues 229 Great Portland Street London W1W 5PN
• To those delegates and contributors who shared the day on social media and to those I have been able to reference in this blog.

I feel inspired and informed after such a wonderful day and optimistic for the future of #PerinatalMentalHealth in the UK. This was why I wanted to collate all this information.

What will you now do with it?

Elaine 🙂