My Blog

>For a long while I have realised that there are many of the staff based in Children’s Centres who are in an ideal position to help support families affected by poor maternal mental health. Earlier in the year I spoke to an audience of multi-agency staff in St. Helen’s. From this one of the family support coordinators approached me for further training for her staff at Sutton Children’s centre. To add to my personal experience and knowledge and teamed up with Ann Girling, a former health visitor who now offers support for women affected by illness or trauma (see her website at http://www.onthethreshold.co.uk/) to offer a full day on the subject.

We had 100% attendance from several of the St. Helen’s Children’s Centres and the enthusiasm in the room was fantastic all day.
I shared my story and information and Ann added to it with her professional and personal knowledge too.

During the day we discussed other sources of support in the area for themselves and to signpost families to – an impressive list was created:-

Children’s centre (CC)
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/earlyyears/surestart/surestartchildrenscentres/childrenscentres/
CAF – Common Assessment framework – Every Child Matters
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/strategy/deliveringservices1/caf/cafframework/
Midwives link to CC
Heath visitors – listening visits, assessment e.g. with EDPS
Panda support group at Newton-le-Willows
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/pandagroup/index.html
Mother and Baby groups based a CC – massage, yoga, etc.
Family support team (part of CC)
Home Start
http://www.home-start.org.uk/
Aqua-natal classes
Universal visiting (from CC)
Baby clinic
Teenage pregnancy support group
Counselling services and charity groups
YWCA
http://www.ywca.org.uk/
La Leche breast feeding support
http://www.laleche.org.uk/
‘Bumps to birth’ group at CC

Ann and I would like to thank Gina for asking us to do the training and for her help in making the day possible and also to all those who attended for being such a responsive group.

We were delighted with the feedback, e.g.
Workshop ticked all the boxes – interesting, informative, relevant and enjoyable.
Didn’t really have any expectations other than to receive information but the session has been inspirational.
I really found all of it useful, particularly Elaine’s story paired with Ann’s professional view and experience. Fantastic, I feel much more knowledgeable about PND now.
The whole workshop was useful and I had little to no knowledge on the subject and felt it a big chunk of my working practice depended on having an awareness and how to approach the issue with families/mothers and colleagues.
Great as both a mum who has had similar experiences and as a practitioner supporting vulnerable women.

Please let us know if we can help you too!

Elaine Hanzak

www.hanzak.com