Give the gift of peer support

Dear supporters,

As the year draws to a close, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for everything you have done for Action on Postpartum Psychosis (APP) in 2025.

APP is a lifeline for many families, but we couldn’t do it without you. This festive story-card celebrates the power of our community. Each recovery we support creates a ripple of hope.

Every peer-supporter, storyteller, fundraiser and campaigner impacts the lives of so many others. Where once there was isolation, shame and stigma, we now have a thriving postpartum psychosis community changing the future for others.

From everyone at APP, I wish you and your loved ones a restful and happy festive season.

Best wishes,

Jess

Jess Heron
CEO
Action on Postpartum Psychosis

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Peer support stories

Anna's Story: When I became ill with postpartum psychosis in 2005 after my first child, it was horrific. Nobody knew much about the illness or what was wrong with me. In 2007, when contemplating baby number two, I noticed that Dr Jess Heron was running a research study. I reached out – both to support the study and to ask for help, so I could understand the challenges I might face if I were to give birth again. Jess helped me find that knowledge and with support from both health professionals and women with lived experience of PP, I went on to have my second child. I couldn’t be more grateful for that support. Now, I am a trustee and trained peer supporter. Making a difference to the lives of so many families has helped me to find acceptance, and recover from the trauma of PP.

Sally's Story: I was in the middle of psychosis, deeply depressed and struggling with suicidal thoughts when I first posted on the APP online forum writing the words ‘help, I can’t go on like this’. I had so many replies, was signposted to a psychiatry service for a second opinion and was able to access the lifesaving treatment I needed. Through APP, Anna became my one-to-one peer supporter, and she was an absolute lifeline for me. She made me feel less alone and gave me hope. I’m not sure that I would be alive today without APP and Anna. Now, I deliver peer support and oversee APP’s health professional training, reaching more than 2,000 professionals every year.

I met my first APP peer, Katy, when I was in an MBU. MBUs are essential for mums with PP. Finding APP was the turning point in my recovery, and being able to work with them now reaching out to diverse communities has been the silver lining. I am so proud of our Muslim Mums’ café group and so excited about our recently launched Black Mums’ café group. We can now reach even more women, especially those for whom mental health remains taboo and stigmatised. Together we can break down those barriers and show that PP can affect women of all communities, but also that anyone can reach out and get help.

It was about a year after I was hospitalised with postpartum psychosis that I found APP and met Sally who became my peer supporter. Before that, I was in dire straits. I lived in Northern Ireland where there was no Mother and Baby Unit (MBU). I didn’t know anybody who had been through what I had and I felt like I couldn’t be honest with people because I might scare them. But Sally listened to me and she didn’t judge me, providing me with compassion and understanding. She made me feel like life could be OK again and provided me with hope. Now I’m part of a Northern Ireland peer support community. As a peer support volunteer, I love meeting up with everyone and being there for others. Together, we are campaigning for more awareness of PP and a desperately needed MBU for NI. I am myself again.