Support APP this festive season
We would like to thank you for your support this year. 2020 has been a difficult year for many people. Separation from family and friends has been a challenge for us all, but isolation and lack of support has been particularly hard for pregnant women, new parents and those recovering from postpartum psychosis (PP).
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, APP’s priority has been to support women and families who need us.
We’ve concentrated on: providing high-quality peer support; setting up new services to help people connect during this time; signposting pregnant and postnatal women to the right services; and disseminating expert information. This year we have:
- matched 246 women or partners with a recovered volunteer to receive one-to-one peer support.
- supported 250 people a month on our Peer Support Forum. The Forum now has more than 2,700 registered users, and is open 365 days a year, providing a place for anyone affected by PP to talk about their experiences and find support from volunteers.
- launched a new video call 1:1 peer support service.
- have continued to hold regular café group meet ups (via video call and socially distanced walks) and added a new café group for North Wales taking our number of regional social groups to seven.
- increased our support for partners, with a new Partners Coordinator, Simon, and more dad volunteers trained in peer support.
- reached millions of people with our social media campaigns and media pieces, including developing our #MumWatch graphic - raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of postpartum psychosis – which has been seen by 278,500 people.
- delivered training and lived experience talks to more than 1,700 multidisciplinary health professionals.
- worked locally and nationally to help improve services and campaign for the needs of women and families who develop PP during the pandemic to be met.
- set up lots of new online social activities, for example: the APP Book Club; a Running, Walking and Cycling group; art and craft activities, and more to help people stay connected.
2020 has brought financial challenges for maternal mental health charities at a time when support has never been more vital. If you would like to support APP’s festive appeal financially you can:
- make a one-off donation or set up a monthly donation online here >
- hold a festive fundraising activity or set up a festive Facebook fundraiser for friends and family to contribute to. If you would like support in setting this up, please email Kelly at fundraising@www.app-network.org
- send festive e-cards and donate the cost of the cards and stamps to APP. Our supporters have sent us beautiful e-card designs for our e-card gallery this year.
If you’re not able to make a donation this year, you can help us in other ways as we try to break down the stigma surrounding perinatal mental illness and raise awareness of postpartum psychosis. Please share APP’s posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and talk to whoever you can about the importance of maternal mental health charities and specialist perinatal services. Look out for lots of PP and APP press pieces over Christmas.