A very big congratulations and thank you to Sally and Ruth who completed the 3k Big Welsh Swim last Saturday, 22nd July! They lucked out with the weather, with a beautifully sunny day at Lake Padarn, North Wales.
They said: 'Thank-you so so much for all your support. We made it! What a great day, with gorgeous weather and amazing people! #£3kfor3k xxx'
Some very happy smiley faces, after completing their 3k swim!
They have already raised over £2,500 and their Just Giving page is still accepting donations - please support them and give what you can.
Congratulations to you both, a great achievement! Thank you from us all at APP.
Wednesday 5th July saw some of APP’s volunteers suffer the indignity of coming last in yet another pub quiz! Whatever: the night went with a swing for APP in other ways. We are greatly indebted to The Leopard’s landlady, Karen (Kaz) Maclean and her big-hearted family for all the hard work which they put into such a successful and fun event - raising APP’s profile in the Midlands and £400 for our funds.
Kaz provided all the food for free, she set up a nearly-new pop up shop, contributed quiz and raffle prizes and hosted the entire night with aplomb. It was an unusual quiz. Picture each team trying to build a house with Bourbon biscuits and a large bar of chocolate or wandering around the pub looking for things beginning with “p”…. Hmmm, yes - rude in parts!
Trying to make chocolate houses
I should like to thank all those who provided items for the pop-up shop, quiz and raffle and all those who supported us, especially Elaine Williams who promoted us in Tutbury and did so much more besides.
If you are ever in Tutbury, visit "The Leopard"; a small but warm community pub, with a lovely family at its helm and a charitable core at its heart.
Nov 5th, 2017 is little Leo's birthday. His aunt, Holly Haywood, has set herself a massive challenge: to run 12 marathons in 12 months. Holly reasons that if her sister can pull through the shock and heartache of PP then surely she, too, can climb this marathon "mountain" in aid of APP but also in celebration of her brave sister and little Leo.
Holly has already completed The Thames Marathon, The Brighton and The Exeter Marathon and has just completed her fourth marathon where she was joined along the way by some of her colleagues.
She said:
‘3 of us set off at 09:00 and the first half marathon was completed in 2 hours 30mins. We mainly ran on rural roads and along the beautiful Basingstoke canal.
The weather was perfect, overcast and cool.
The second half we were joined by two more colleagues, this half was more hilly and the legs were not enjoying it as much!
We finished the marathon in 5:39, equalling my PB from the Exeter marathon.’
At the half way point joined by Vicky and Tara.
Fortunately colleagues have offered to run with Holly for varying distances, on her next two local marathons (the next one taking place on 1st August), in order to support this valiant effort. Then she will be halfway there! No pressure!
It is truly tough to keep going at such a huge challenge - as well as tout for sponsors - so we at APP are putting a big shout-out to all of you out there. Please take a look at Holly's fundraising page and dig deep if you possibly can - www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Hollys-Marathon-challenge
Holly is hoping to complete all 12 marathons in time for Leo's birthday on 5th November, and here's hoping Holly's page receives the sponsorship it deserves by little Leo's next birthday!
A very big Thank You to Holly and all her supporters!
Congratulations to Deborah Page, Clinical Team Leader of Perinatal Mental Health at Leeds MBU, who braved the cold of Lake Windermere and successfully completed the Great North Swim on 9th June!
The weather over the weekend was challenging, but all the swimmer and supporters were all fantastic and kept smiling all day.
Deborah said:
'We did it - Sunday event was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions. This resulted in an emergency child care cover Saturday morning, 2 hr drive up to Low Fell, quick jog t the event, quick change, swim the lake, out and change back, jog back to the car and 2 hrs drive back to Leeds. Today has been mainly PJ's. Thank you all for your donations and support. It kept me going through training and the swim. In memory of those women and babies who sadly lost their lives to the cruel illness that is postnatal mental illness. x'
A big congratulations and thank you to Deborah from all of us at APP! (and you can still donate via her Just Giving page here)
APP were invited to the Welsh Assembly this week to give evidence to the Children, Young People & Education Committee about Perinatal Mental Healthcare in Wales.
APP’s Director, Dr Jess Heron and North Wales Regional Rep, Sally Wilson attended for APP and Charlotte Harding (who is also APP’s S Wales Rep) attended with Barbara Cunningham on behalf of PMH Cymru.
The aim of the inquiry is to consider how Perinatal Mental Health services are currently provided and how the Welsh Government can improve services for mothers, babies, fathers and families. The Committee wanted to find out how services link together, including specialised perinatal mental health services, maternity services, general adult mental health services, inpatient mother and baby units, parent and infant mental health services, health visiting, clinical psychology, and midwifery services, GPs and the extended primary care team, role of the third sector and local support groups, and private providers of services.
Jess and Sally explained the critical need for a Mother & Baby Unit in Wales. They gave evidence about the importance of high quality training in PP for all health and social care professionals that come into contact with pregnant and postnatal women. They explained to the committee the importance of peer support to women and families affected by PP, and outlined how this could be provided in Wales.
A very big thank you to Dr Neha Rawat and colleagues and family of PPIMHS (Perinatal Parent Infant Mental Health Service) at NELFT (North East London NHS Foundation Trust) who completed the 10k Great Newham London run which took place on Sunday 2nd July.
They said 'We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and am glad to report that we are still fundraising!'
They certainly look very happy on completing their run, a big congratulations and thank you from everyone at APP!
Please do continue to support their fundraising efforts; you can still donate via their Virgin Money Giving page here.
Dr Neha Rawat. colleagues and family of PPIMHS (Perinatal Parent Infant Mental Health Service) at NELFT (North East London NHS Foundation Trust) are running the 10k Great Newham London run on Sunday 2 July in aid of APP.
All runners in the 10k will get the chance to have their very own Olympic moment as they finish inside the Stadium and cross the famous finish line and running track! They say:
"We are a community perinatal mental health service and our running team is composed of doctors, therapists, nurses, social workers, admin, sons and daughters...
We have seen and experienced closely how damaging postpartum psychosis can be for mothers and families and what it means to have timely help and intervention.
The support that charities like Action on Postpartum Psychosis (APP) provide, in addition to professional intervention from services like ours, to families goes a long way in helping families manage this very difficult time and experience.
We are running in support of Action on Postpartum Psychosis - a charity that's close to our hearts and that has been working tirelessly with professionals and families to improve lives of families affected by postnatal psychosis. This is our way of saying thank you to the tireless work that APP does and has been doing with mums and families."
A very big THANK YOU to all fourteen team members running this event! Please support them and donate via their Virgin Money Giving page here .
A big well done and thank you to Helen Jackson and team for successfully completing the Tougher Mudder event on 13th May and raising over £400 for APP!
Helen says: 'It was difficult, cold and filthy but a real testament to the strength of teamwork. Not just from my friends but all the other runners helped us out at every challenge. An amazing supportive atmosphere."
A special thank you from us all at APP to all the team members who took part and to everyone who donated as well - and it's still possible to donate via Helen's JustGiving page here.
Here's some mudtastic photos from Helen of the Tougher Mudder. Like the look of it? There are events all over the country that you can participate in.
A big congratulations and thank you to the team at Bethlem Royal Hospital Mother and Baby Unit who successfully completed the Hampton Court Half Marathon on 19 February 2017 and have raised over £2000 for APP!
What a fantastic achievement from everyone involved in helping to raise funds for APP, which also included a cake sale back in December last year.
They say: "We survived the run! Still keeping our JustGiving page open for this week for a final push for donations. We have raised over £2000!!!"
A special thanks to the runners of Team MBU and also to everyone who helped to raise awareness and achieve such a brilliant result!
Please visit their JustGiving page where you can still donate for this week.
"Working on a Mother and Baby unit, we are all very aware of the illness postpartum psychosis, as well as many other illnesses relating to women during pregnancy and after giving birth. We want to raise money for the amazing charity APP and support their work as well as raise awareness around mental health during pregnancy and after having a baby."
They have recently had a very successful cake sale to help towards reaching their fundraising target and have emailed us an update on their endeavours:
"Just wanted to share some photos with you from our cake sale. The fundraising is going well, so far we have raised nearly £500! We are planning to do a raffle for Christmas and of course sharing our JustGiving page for people to sponsor us for the half marathon."
A big thank you to the staff from the 
