APP's peer support forum is 10
APP’s peer support forum, hosted on HealthUnlocked, went live 10 years ago today. It was set up to offer a safe and anonymous space for people affected by postpartum psychosis (PP) to connect and support one another through shared experiences. Over the last decade, the forum has continued to grow into the warm and welcoming community it is today.
We know that experiencing and recovering from PP can be extremely isolating, not only for the women going through it but also for their partners, family members and others involved. For many, the peer support forum is the first source of information and support people come across when going through, or starting to come out of, a very distressing time. The forum offers hope and support to those looking for others who can offer real empathy and understanding.
Today, the forum has over 3,250 members. People access the forum from all over the world, with thousands of page views each month. There have been around 29,500 posts and replies added since the forum went live.
Today, we want to say thank you to all of our peer support volunteers and staff, and all those within our APP community who help to offer support via the forum. Sharing our stories, and reading others, can be such an important step in recovery, most importantly in showing people who have experienced or been affected by PP, that they are not alone.
The following comments help to show how important the forum is:
Finding the forum was a pivotal moment in my recovery because I no longer felt alone and like the only person in the world who had gone through this.
I can't thank you all enough for sharing your advice and kind thoughts. I appreciate the time you have taken to support an anonymous stranger, your personal experiences are so helpful.
I have felt so, so alone in my journey and although I still feel so bruised and broken after all this time, just knowing there are others out there who have shared my pain is so validating.
It's beyond helpful and comforting hearing from people who have lived through this and truly understand what we are going through.
Thank you for sharing your experience and for validating my feelings. It made me feel less lonely and much warmer.
You have all given me some hope that this isn't my forever. I need to hold on to that.
Find out about our peer support here.
Access our peer support forum here.