City Bridge Foundation provides significant funding for peer support

We are delighted to announce that Action on Postpartum Psychosis (APP) has received 5 years of funding from City Bridge Foundation – London’s biggest independent charity funder – for a project to provide peer support for London-based women and families affected by postpartum psychosis (PP).

The new funding will help APP build a PP peer support community and is for anyone living in London affected by PP - whether newly recovering or with experience of PP many years ago. The project will reduce isolation, break through stigma, and provide empathy and hope. APP groups are social, supportive, warm and fun, with a wellbeing focus. Members of the community can train as volunteers as they recover and develop new skills. 

Tragically, suicide is the leading cause of maternal death in the 12 months after having a baby. PP is the most severe form of postnatal mental illness affecting 1 to 2 in every 1000 new mums. With the right help, people recover, but the journey to full recovery can be hard. There is much work to do to raise awareness, ensure swift diagnosis, enable families to access specialist treatment and tailored peer support to help women and families feel less alone.

The City Bridge Foundation funding will provide several opportunities for us to improve support to families.

We will be recruiting an additional peer support worker to cover the London area, ensuring that more women and families have access to this powerful form of support. This will include a regular London PP community café group and one-to-one peer support.

We will also be given additional funds to focus on targeted awareness raising in the London area, connect with London Mother and Baby Units (MBUs), and to run creative workshops.

Ellie Ware, APP National Peer Support Coordinator said:

“We are so thrilled to receive this grant. This will help us to reach more families in London affected by postpartum psychosis (PP), and to offer more peer support than we currently offer. This will include running a monthly in person peer support café group. We know our peer support is life changing for women and families, and that it massively helps with the isolation, grief, and stigma people experience when they have had PP”.

To find out more about the London Peer Support Worker role, please click here.

If you have been affected by postpartum psychosis and you live in the London area, please join the APP network for updates here.

If you have been affected by suicide relating to postpartum psychosis, you can find out about our new bereavement support group here.

If you are from an MBU or Perinatal Team in the London area, please sign up for our MBU newsletter here. 

About City Bridge Foundation 

City Bridge Foundation is a world-class bridge owner responsible for five Thames crossings – including the iconic Tower Bridge – and London’s biggest independent charity funder. 

It awards over £30 million a year in grants to charitable organisations across London and has made a further £200 million available over the five years to 2026 to support the capital’s charity sector. 

City Bridge Foundation has been bridging London and connecting communities for over 900 years. Its sole trustee is the City of London Corporation – the governing body for the Square Mile. 

www.citybridgefoundation.org.uk