APP December newsletter
December 2023 newsletter
Season's Greeting and a Happy New Year from all of us at APP
A message from APP's Chief Executive, Dr Jessica Heron:
"On behalf of APP, I would like to thank everyone in our community for supporting us throughout 2023. With your help, we have achieved a huge amount over the past 12 months.
Special thanks must go to our fundraisers who have worked so hard to raise awareness and much-needed funds. The phenomenal fundraising by Richard Baish, his family and friends in memory of his wife, Alex, enabled us to deliver a free webinar on suicide prevention with more than 2,500 frontline GPs, midwives, health visitors and antenatal educators signing up. The funds also supported the development of our postpartum psychosis (PP) toolkit for antenatal educators and associated media campaign.
I’d also like to thank every single person who has supported our work by sharing their stories, helping to raise awareness, donating or holding a fundraising event. In 2023, more individuals and teams have been involved in running, cycling, swimming, walking, bungee jumping and cake baking than ever before, together raising more than £160,000.
With the help of our volunteers, we provided 1:1 peer support to 292 individuals. An average of 230 used our peer support forum each month. Our regional café meet-ups, groups for dads/co-parents and grandparents continued and we added new groups for Muslim women and a UK-wide meeting. APP Insider Guides have been translated into Arabic, Bengali, Polish, Slovak and Urdu to continue our work ensuring this information is accessible to as many people as possible.
Our four NHS partnership projects, including our new collaboration with Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, provided peer support to more than 270 women and families early in their recovery journey. Our annual peer support survey showed APP’s peer support service continues to be life-saving and an essential ingredient in recovery, with 99% of respondents feeling more supported and 96% feeling less isolated.
Our campaigns have continued to make a real difference for women and families – work on a Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) in Chester serving Cheshire, Merseyside and North Wales is underway. We also saw the long-awaited announcement of a plan for a Northern Ireland MBU, thanks in no small part to our NI café group, NI regional rep Oorlagh, and the inspirational efforts of the family of Orlaith Quinn who lost her life to PP.
As always, I would like to thank all our staff, volunteers, trustees, donors and fundraisers for their dedication, passion and hard work this year. There is a lot more we want to do together in 2024. I’m delighted that APP has been selected for a BBC Radio 4 Charity Appeal, to be broadcast on 24th March, which is a great opportunity to raise funds and awareness.
For some women and families, Christmas and New Year is a difficult time. APP’s support is available for anyone facing grief or loss, for families who may have loved ones spending Christmas in a Mother and Baby Unit, or those struggling with symptoms during the recovery period. We are thinking of you and our peer supporters are available every day of the year on our Forum.
Wishing you and your loved ones a happy festive period”
Peer Support during the festive period
APP’s Forum is open as usual over the festive period. Our staff and volunteers are ready to talk to anyone who needs support. If you would like talk to others who have been there, please get in touch.
If you are emailing the APP office or requesting one to one email or video call support over the festive period, please bear with us. It may take a few days for us to get back to you.
Plans for a new Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) - a specialist in-patient treatment unit where mums with mental illness are admitted with their babies – were announced by Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust earlier this year. The eight-bed unit will be opened in Chester to support new and expectant parents across Cheshire, Merseyside and North Wales.
APP’s national team is working with the Cheshire, Wirral and North Wales NHS teams to ensure the voices of lived experience are heard throughout the whole development process, as well as ensuring the unit helps to meet the needs of families from North Wales. APP volunteers and those with lived experience of PP and inpatient units have been an integral part of the development meetings, where they have inputted into the design, landscaping, and functionality of the MBU.
APP has long been campaigning for more MBU beds in the UK and we’re delighted by the plans for Cheshire. However, in many parts of the UK it is still the case that mothers and babies are forced to travel miles for treatment or that mums can end up on an adult psychiatric ward. You can read more about APP’s campaigning for MBUs in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Scotland and add your voice here.
APP runs lived experience café groups across the UK where mums and parents who have been through postpartum psychosis, and their partners and family members, can meet informally.
We have a new UK-wide café group and there are currently regional groups in Birmingham, Lancashire and South Cumbria, London, Manchester, North East and North Cumbria, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Sussex and Hampshire, Wales and Yorkshire.
We also run monthly cafe groups for: dads and co-parents; grandparents; and Muslim women.
Café groups meet both online and in person, so if you can’t get to a meet-up, you can always join a group for a cuppa online.
To join us and to see the new dates for meetings in 2024 visit our website.
New Midlands peer support worker
Welcome to our new peer support worker, Rachel Rollins, who is part of our partnership project with Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust.
Rachel joins Natalie and Soukaina in the Birmingham team, providing peer support to inpatients at Birmingham Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) and at APP’s café groups in the area.
Rachel has volunteered as a peer supporter with APP, attending café groups, after being supported through the West Midlands teams after the birth of her second child. You can read more about our Birmingham and Solihull project and find out how to get involved as a volunteer here. To join the café group, please email birmingham@app-network.org.
(Pictured above Rachel Rollins, left, with Peer Support Facilitator Natalie Thompson)
A big thank you to Cheshire and Mersey Specialist Perinatal Service for holding a Christmassy Big Bake in support of APP. It looks like there was lots of festive fun and plenty of tasty treats on offer!
If you fancy holding your own Big Bake to help raise funds as well as awareness of postpartum psychosis and APP, please email fundraising@app-network.org and we’ll send you more details and your Big Bake fundraising pack so you can get started.
Join us for the next meeting of APP’s Book Club on Wednesday 13th March. We’ll be meeting on Zoom to discuss Matrescence: On the Metamorphosis of Pregnancy, Childbirth and Motherhood by Lucy Jones. Find out more and book your free place here.
Lee completes his final challenge!
Our amazing fundraiser Lee Smith (pictured above with MBU staff) has finished his epic year of challenges to raise awareness of, and funds for, APP His final challenge saw him run 22 miles from his home in Washington to the Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) in Morpeth, where his wife Jess was treated in December 2020. Lee said:
"Huge thank you to the staff on the Mother and Baby Unit in Morpeth, giving me a tour of the ward at the end of the 22-mile run. Due to covid restrictions I [had only been able] to imagine where Jess was staying. A really comfortable, homely environment to get the best support with staff - the mothers are definitely in safe hands."
Over the course of the year Lee has completed the Great North Run, a Tough Warrior event, climbed mountains and even braved a bungee jump! He's raised more than £4,300 and done a huge amount to raise awareness of PP as well. Find out more about his amazing feats here. Lee's work is not quite finished yet though - keep an eye on our social media platforms to hear about an interview with him on BBC Radio 5Live in the run-up to Christmas!
Thank you
A massive thank you to every single person who has taken on a fundraising challenge for us during 2023 - whether you were involved with Miles for Mums and Babies, organised a Big Bake, took on a marathon, did a collection at work, climbed a mountain, cycled, swam, swam, walked, toddled or jumped...! Every single fundraiser has been absolutely amazing this year and we are so grateful to all of you. You've helped raise an incredible amount of money this year which is already making a huge difference. Thank you for being part of Team APP! We can't do any of this without you.
Nominate APP
To end the year, easyfundraising is giving fifty causes £50 each. If you would like to nominate Action on Postpartum Psychosis for a £50 award - please take a minute to complete this form and tell them why you love APP in 50 words or fewer by 31st December. It's a really short form - just the 50 words or fewer plus your name. If you have 5 minutes any time before the end of the year, please do give it a go and we'll let you know if we win! Thank you.
Festive support
We'd love your support over the festive season! Every donation makes a difference. Here are a few ways you can support us this December if you would like to.
APP gift voucher
Are you struggling to think of present ideas for the person who has everything? Make a donation to APP in their name then drop us an email and we’ll send you a downloadable gift voucher for you to print and wrap for them for the big day.
APP Lancashire and south Cumbria face to face café group meet up in Blackburn, Friday 5th January 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Lancashire and south Cumbria virtual café group meet up, Monday 8th January 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Lancashire and south Cumbria face to face café group meet up in Lancaster, Wednesday 10th January 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP London virtual café group meet up, Thursday 11th January 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Lancashire and south Cumbria face to face café group meet up in Blackpool, Friday 12th January 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Northern Ireland virtual café group meet up, Thursday 18th January 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Birmingham face to face café group meet up in Birmingham, Friday 19th January 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Lancashire and south Cumbria face to face café group meet up in Preston, Friday 19th January 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Yorkshire virtual café group meet up, Tuesday 23rd January 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Scotland virtual café group meet up, Thursday 25th January 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Manchester face to face café group meet up, Friday 26th January 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Black Country face to face café group meet up in Walsall, Tuesday 30th January 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Wales virtual café group meet up, Tuesday 30th January 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Sussex and Hampshire virtual café group meet up, Wednesday 31st January 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Lancashire and south Cumbria face to face café group meet up in Blackburn, Friday 2nd February 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Muslim women’s virtual café group meet up, Thursday 8th February 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP UK-wide virtual café group meet up, Thursday 8th February 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Lancashire and south Cumbria face to face café group meet up in Blackpool, Friday 9th February 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Lancashire and south Cumbria virtual café group meet up, Monday 12th February 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Lancashire and south Cumbria face to face café group meet up in Lancaster, Wednesday 14th February 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Lancashire and south Cumbria face to face café group meet up in Preston, Friday 16th February 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Birmingham face to face café group meet up in Birmingham, Friday 23rd February 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Manchester face to face café group meet up in Manchester, Friday 23rd February 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Black Country face to face café group meet up in Walsall, Tuesday 27th February 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Sussex and Hampshire virtual café group meet up, Tuesday 27th February 2024: APP regional café groups webpage
APP Book Club virtual meeting, Wednesday 13th March 2024. Discussing Matrescence: On the Metamorphosis of Pregnancy, Childbirth and Motherhood by Lucy Jones. Book your free place here.