APP September 2025 Newsletter
APP webinar: book your free place now
Suicide is the leading cause of maternal death in the UK and rates are increasing nationally. APP’s free webinar is open to frontline health professionals working with families in the perinatal period and will outline the actions needed to support and protect women who develop postpartum psychosis.
The webinar, on 8th October, will be delivered in collaboration with The National Centre for Mental Health at Cardiff University (NCMH) and General Practitioners Championing Perinatal Mental Health Care (GPCPC), and will include talks from APP’s clinical, academic and lived experience experts.
This will be the third in our annual webinar series. 6,438 health professionals have signed up in previous years. Of attendees, 93% rated the training as ‘excellent’; 7% rated it ‘good’ and 100% agreed they would change their practice as a result.
You can book your free place here. There’s no limit to the number of places available - please share the details with colleagues and encourage them to join us for this important event.
A poster to promote the webinar can be downloaded here. Health professionals, please put one up in your place of work!
Health professional training in postpartum psychosis
Book now for our online training “Best practice care in postpartum psychosis” on Wednesday 12th November 2025.
The one-day online course is for professionals who work with pregnant and postnatal women and families. It draws upon cutting-edge research and the experiences of women and families. It will increase confidence in identifying those at risk, planning care during pregnancy, identifying early symptoms, understanding care pathways, and providing high quality, empathetic support to women and families from preconception to full recovery.
1 day course cost: £195. Find out more and book here.
If you would like training tailored for your team, have questions, or to join our training mailing list, please email: training@app-network.org
Support APP’s Big Give campaign
Mark your calendars - we have another Big Give campaign coming up between 8th-15th October. If you can plan a fundraising event in the run up to, or during that week, all donations made through the Big Give site that week will be doubled, at no additional cost to the donor!
Please do consider making a donation during that week if you can, or look out for and share our posts on social media so as many people as possible see them.
Why not make the most of our Big Give week by organising a Big Bake event? (like Nottingham MBU team, above) It's the perfect time for an autumnal afternoon tea, a cake decorating competition, or just a morning coffee break with colleagues - it all helps to raise awareness and funds. Hold it before the 15th October and donate the proceeds via the Big Give and it will be matched - meaning if you raise £50, we'll get £100!
Contact Fliss for more info or to request our free Big Bake info pack, complete with all our favourite recipes!
Welcome to our newest peer supporters!
Welcome to our newest APP peer support volunteers!
We had a special training day in London earlier this month, facilitated by our expert trainer Clare Foster. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who was there, and for helping to make a difference
You can watch more about the day here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/x6dLhMrzZ84
Find out more about peer support on our website here.
New Chester Mother and Baby Unit: update
Sally, APP’s National Training Coordinator, and Jocelyn, Peer Support Facilitator, recently visited Seren Lodge in Chester as part of the Helix Experts by Experience group.
Seren Lodge will be a specialist eight-bedded mental health Mother and Baby Unit (MBU), designed to support perinatal mothers, their babies, and families from across Cheshire, Merseyside, and North Wales. The unit is expected to open later this year.
This new service is being developed through a partnership between Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB), Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, NHS England, and NHS Wales.
Reflecting on the visit, Jocelyn said:
“I am really proud and emotional to be part of this. I didn’t have access to an MBU when I needed it, so it’s amazing to see a local service now available in Cheshire and North Wales. At Helix, we’ve been able to provide input from our lived experiences to help ensure the unit feels homely and welcoming - creating the best possible environment for mothers to recover from perinatal mental illness.”
If you are interested in joining the Helix Experts by Experience group, please visit: https://www.helixcm.nhs.uk/ebe.
Can you help our new Black mums peer support group?
Are you a Black mum who has experienced mania/bipolar or psychosis after giving birth?
We’re looking for more volunteers from the Black community to help us with our new peer support group for Black mums. We also need more help with our outreach activities, educating health professionals and community groups about postpartum psychosis.
Join us for peer support training in December (online, on Zoom).
Get in touch for more details - you can direct message us: @ActionOnPP or email ellie@app-network.org and jenny@app-network.org.
Award nomination for APP NHS peer support team in Manchester
We’re delighted to say that APP has been nominated for the Outstanding Partner Organisation Award in Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust’s Stars Awards 2025.
Our amazing team of Nicola Gardner, Alison Barrott and Rachel McVeigh have been working in partnership with the NHS providing peer support to inpatients at Andersen Ward Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) in Wythenshawe for the past two years.
The GMMH Stars Awards are designed to celebrate excellent work taking place across the Trust. Staff, service users and their carers and families were invited to nominate teams to be shortlisted. There will be a celebration event and awards ceremony in Salford in October.
Huge congratulations to Nicola, Ali and Rachel - we’re all very proud of you!
You can find out more about how APP works in partnership with the NHS here.
Fill in our annual peer support survey
If you have accessed APP’s peer support services this year, please tell us what you think by completing our survey by the end of September.
The survey will take about 15 minutes to fill in. It is open to anyone who has used APP's peer support service (whether that is the online forum, café groups, one to one support via email, video/phone call or face-to-face, creative or wellbeing groups, or had contact with an APP peer support volunteer or staff member). We would also like to hear from any of our volunteers who have delivered peer support.
Your responses will help us improve APP’s peer support and report to our funders on the importance of our work.
The survey can be completed anonymously and is confidential. Any comments or quotes you add will remain anonymous. If you have completed a survey for us in the past, we would still like to hear your experiences of receiving or delivering support this year.
The survey will close at the end of September. Please grab a cup of tea and let us know what you think by following this link.
This is Also Motherhood – an exhibition of portraits and stories of mental health, strength and survival
This is Also Motherhood is a project by the Maternal Mental Health Alliance, showcasing the portraits and stories of 10 mothers from across the UK.
The exhibition will be open to the public in central London on 14th, 17th and 18th November 2025. Except for the afternoon of 18th November, the exhibition is open to all.
Author Catherine Cho, APP Ambassador and Trustee, says she is honoured to be part of the project.
It’s a privilege to share my story of postpartum psychosis, and what projects like these so powerfully reveal - is that these are shared experiences and there is support to be found.
Read more about Catherine’s story on Instagram here.
Further details about the venue will be announced soon. Follow the Maternal Mental Health Alliance for updates.
In the media
APP’s Development Manager, Rich Baish, joined the What If We’d Known podcast to talk about his family’s experience of postpartum psychosis and loss, and the importance of recognising the warning signs. You can listen to the episode here.
Volunteer Chris Wasley’s epic tour of football grounds closest to every MBU in the UK continues. He recently made it on to the big screen at Colchester! (pictured above).
Chris also recently took part in The Blooming Midwife podcast and talked movingly about his support for MBUs. You can listen to the episode here.
Fabulous fundraisers
Thank you to all our fantastic fundraisers who’ve been taking on all sorts of challenges across the UK to help raise funds and awareness for APP.
Just in the last couple of months, we’ve had an incredible team representing APP in the Great North Run - Gemma, James, Debbie, Jo and Fiona.
Gina and her son Rayan took part in the Edinburgh Kiltwalk on 14th September.
Another APP peer supporter, Rachel and her colleagues Will and David ran in the first ever Corporate Challenge relay event in Salford.
We have many more fundraisers in action next month too - Emily in the Cardiff Half, Lauren-Nicole, Aaron, Gareth and Dominic in the Amsterdam Marathon, as well as Jessie and Pendra in the Royal Parks Half in London.
It’s also not too late to take on a Miles for Mums and Babies challenge - as colleagues from Leicestershire Perinatal Mental Health team know - they’re aiming to cover 40 miles each during October - wish them luck!
If you’re considering a challenge this autumn or in 2026, now is a great time to sign up - we have recently updated our challenge page with loads of new events and exciting activities, including fancy dress Santa festive fun runs, plus iconic events like the Brighton Marathon, Edinburgh Marathon and the Great North Run, as well as so many more.
Diary dates
APP North East face to face café group meet up in Newcastle, Monday 29th September
APP Lancashire and South Cumbria face to face café group meet up in Blackburn, Friday 3rd October
APP Yorkshire face to face café group meet up in Leeds, Saturday 4th October
APP Wales face to face café group meet up in Wrexham, Saturday 4th October
APP neurodivergent virtual café group meet up, Monday 6th October
APP Muslims women’s virtual café group meet up, Tuesday 7th October
APP webinar: essential knowledge for preventing maternal suicide, Wednesday 8th October. Book here.
APP Lancashire and South Cumbria face to face café group meet up in Blackpool, Friday 10th October
APP Lancashire and South Cumbria virtual café group meet up, Monday 13th October
APP dads and co-parents virtual café group meet up, Wednesday 15th October
APP Lancashire and South Cumbria face to face café group meet up in Lancaster, Wednesday 15th October
APP UK-wide virtual café group meet up, Thursday 16th October
APP Lancashire and South Cumbria face to face café group meet up in Preston, Friday 17th October
APP Scotland face to face café group meet up in Edinburgh, Saturday 18th October
APP London virtual café group meet up, Tuesday 21st October
APP London face to face café group meet up, Saturday 25th October
APP Manchester face to face café group meet up, Friday 31st October
Contact information for all APP café groups is available here.
Conferences and events
Recognising and Responding to Maternal Deterioration, Wednesday 15th October
Online conference looking at how MEWS, NEWTT2 and the Perinatal Optimisation Care Pathway have been adopted in organisations across the country and the impact on recognising and responding to deterioration in maternity care. A 20% discount is available for members of the APP network with code hcuk20app . More details and booking here.
Communication Skills, Boundaries, Confidentiality - for Perinatal Mental Health Peer Support, Thursday 23rd October
Online lunchtime seminar for peer support workers and other practitioners supporting parents with their mental health during pregnancy, birth and beyond run by Lifeboat Perinatal Mental Health. More details and booking information here.
If you would like to advertise your event here, please get in touch: app@app-network.org.