Tag Archives: postpartum psychosis

14 March 2024

BBC Radio 4 Appeal

BBC Radio 4 will broadcast an appeal on behalf of Action on Postpartum Psychosis (APP) later this month.

APP Ambassador and author, Laura Dockrill, will present the broadcast, sharing her experience of postpartum psychosis (PP) following the birth of her son. Laura describes how she spent her first Mother’s Day in a psychiatric hospital separated from her three-week old baby and how APP’s peer support helped her find connection, recovery and community.

BBC Radio 4 appeals are weekly three-minute programmes which highlight the work of charities and appeal for donations on their behalf.  Only 49 charities from across the UK are selected to make an appeal each year and APP is delighted to be part of the 2024 programme.

APP’s appeal will be broadcast live on Sunday 24th March at 7.54 am and at 9.25pm. It will then be repeated on Thursday 28th March at 3.27pm.

Dr Jess Heron, APP Chief Executive, says: “The BBC Radio 4 charity appeal is an incredible opportunity for us to raise the profile of APP on a national scale, as well as really help to raise awareness of postpartum psychosis. We want to reach as many people as possible – and we’d love our supporters to spread the word and encourage family, friends and colleagues to listen.”

To find out more, visit the Radio 4 Appeal webpage. Please note, you can only donate to this appeal via the BBC web page from 24th-30th March.

The first £25,000 received in donations will be matched by a generous APP supporter, meaning donations will go twice as far.

Sign up to our newsletter here if you'd like to receive a reminder about our BBC Radio 4 appeal nearer the time.

 

29 February 2024

Action on Postpartum Psychosis launches nationwide awareness campaign with billboards across the UK

In a groundbreaking move to raise awareness about postpartum psychosis, the charity Action on Postpartum Psychosis (APP) is launching a powerful billboard campaign across the United Kingdom throughout March. The impactful initiative has been made possible through the support of the JCDecaux Community Channel and the creative design expertise of agency Mother.

Postpartum psychosis is a treatable medical emergency that affects new mothers, occurring within the first few weeks or months after childbirth. Raising awareness about this illness is crucial to ensure timely intervention and support for the mums and families affected.

The new billboard campaign aims to raise awareness about the condition and signpost to the resources and support APP offers. In addition, there will be a week of billboards promoting an appeal on behalf of the charity by author and APP ambassador Laura Dockrill which will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 24th March.

The visually striking designs have been crafted with the pro-bono help of Mother, a renowned creative agency, and developed with leading academic experts as well as those with lived experience of postpartum psychosis. They seek to capture attention and prompt conversation on a scale that hasn’t been achieved before.

Working in partnership with the JCDecaux Community Channel, the campaign is running across digital billboards in major cities across the UK, amplifying the reach of APP's message. More than one million people a week are expected to see the billboards, which will be in high traffic areas.

Chris Dooley, Head of Social Impact at JCDecaux UK, said: “We are proud to be working in partnership with APP to raise awareness around postpartum psychosis and the support the charity offers to all those affected. The JCDecaux Community Channel creates real value through the power of the public screen and aims to amplify Out-of-Home’s role as a force for good in the community.”

The campaign kicks off on Monday 4th March, coinciding with International Women’s Day (8th) and Mother’s Day (10th). APP’s appeal with author and APP ambassador Laura Dockrill will be on BBC Radio 4 on 24th March.

Action on Postpartum Psychosis would like to thank the JCDecaux Community Channel and Mother for their invaluable support.

As we embark on this impactful campaign, APP is encouraging people to join the conversation on social media. If you see one of the billboards (and it’s safe to do so) please take a picture or video and share, tagging @ActionOnPP.

You can find out more about help and support with postpartum psychosis here.

To donate to APP’s Radio 4 appeal during appeal week, starting 24th March, visit the Radio 4 Appeal webpage or search online for BBC Radio 4 Appeal.

There are lots of ways to support us and get involved with APP. We'd love you to join us. Sign up to our network here.

27 February 2024

Laura's story: I woke up in hospital on my first Mother’s Day

It was 2018. Hugo and I had an extremely happy, healthy, normal pregnancy. There was no reason anything should go wrong, no warning signs. But when it came to the birth itself, I ended up having a really traumatic labour and a C-section, and we were told our gorgeous little boy, Jet, had been starving in the womb.

Once he arrived safely, Jet needed to feed all the time to get his weight back up. I was already sleep deprived and was scared and in shock from the labour, so I started feeling all these feelings – anxiety, fear and restlessness. I had no idea how you were supposed to feel after giving birth, and I’d never experienced any mental health problems prior to this, so I thought it must be normal.

Jet and I were kept on a ward because he was underweight and I had been through such a traumatic birth. But being in such a distressed state, to me it felt like a carousel of hell. One baby would wake up, one mum would be crying, one dad would be crying. It all felt too much, I was completely unable to sleep and I was feeding Jet non-stop around the clock.

Then my feelings of dread and doom massively intensified.

I felt like something really, really bad was going to happen but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I kept thinking that when we get home with Hugo we’ll all be OK and things will calm down. But that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

When we arrived back home it felt as though I was in some kind of vacant holiday home. It didn’t feel like the home I loved. Within days – possibly even hours – I was experiencing racing thoughts, delusions, I couldn’t eat, sleep or concentrate on anything. I was very unwell but looking back I do feel I was explaining my symptoms quite coherently to the health professionals. However, I wasn’t given any diagnosis and we were more or less left to get on with it.

The delusions started becoming obvious to others soon after, particularly to Hugo. I started thinking that every ambulance or police car was coming for me, that teddy bears had cameras in their eyes and that Hugo was trying to steal our baby. Eventually, I became suicidal.

I was admitted to a psych ward when Jet was just three weeks old.

At that point I was so out of touch with reality I wasn’t sure if I was going to a police station, a zoo or an asylum to be locked up. The idea of a psych ward feels like a frightening place anyway but now I know that psychiatric patients are just like anyone else – just like you and me. In fact, more than anything, being admitted to the psych ward actually filled me with relief – I felt that I’d finally found the right type of help that was needed.

Waking up the next morning alone in this room with no baby, no Hugo and these starchy white sheets, I realised that it was the first time I’d slept in three weeks. I remember the nurses saying ‘it’s Sunday today so just chill’ but my brain was racing in some kind of frantic hell. It was, in fact, my first Mother’s Day.

I started therapy from the Monday alongside people in addiction, or diagnosed with a personality disorder or schizophrenia, and it took me a while to work out why I was there. But I’m pleased I’m a bit of a goodie two-shoes because I did everything the doctors told me – attending the sessions, taking the meds. But recovery was really up and down, and for a while I was still occasionally thinking that Hugo was part of a conspiracy.

After two weeks in hospital I fell into a deep depression - which in some ways felt worse. Depression has this awful effect of making you feel like you’re in debt to everyone for everything. I felt guilty because I’d taken time out from motherhood – but it wasn’t like I was snorkelling in the Maldives!

I was on anti psychotics, antidepressants, sleeping pills – I felt like a zombie mum, so I certainly couldn’t just get back to parenting no problem. Hugo and I really relied on our bond and our trust. My conspiracies were off the wall, but Hugo really knew me and helped me, giving me time and patience.

I was also really worried that my bond with Jet was compromised. But when he bumped his head and he wanted me I kind of thought ah - he does forgive me, he does love me and trust me.

Taking action to recover

There’s a large part of recovery you have to do yourself – you have to take whatever steps you feel able to. I taught myself CBT, read every book that everyone had written on motherhood and mental illness, I spent time with my beautiful friends and family, and met other mums who had been through what I had at APP café groups.

The beautiful thing about losing the plot is that you just don’t care anymore it’s so liberating! Things don’t bother me as much as they used to. Rejections happen all the time in my work as a writer and I more easily take them in my stride these days. And if I trip over in the street I just don’t care - I’ve waved goodbye to shame and guilt – they are useless emotions that we really don’t need. And to think that Hugo and Jet would ever hold me accountable for this illness that wasn’t my fault was just ridiculous.

Writing my memoir has also really helped me.

I think Hugo and my family were worried it might be too triggering for me but it really does come down to acceptance – I wasn’t trying to rail against it or be angry at it. Writing about it is like trying to bottle a night terror. It’s so meta - you’re trying to tell a story within a story. When your brain cracks like that, you believe anything. If you told me at the time that I was a crisp I would have believed you – I might have thought, oh this is because I didn’t look after my hamster when I was ten and he’s getting his own back. Throw into that the irregularities of a newborn, the spontaneity, the unpredictability, the expectations – it’s a complete recipe for madness.

But we made it out alive! And writing played an important part in helping me to process what we had been through. It was like the final part of my recovery.

Laura’s book, What Have I Done? is published by Square Peg and available from all good bookstores. To find out more click here.

Laura also presents a BBC Radio 4 Appeal for APP, broadcasting on 24th March 2024.

5 February 2024

Name revealed for new Mother and Baby Unit

The name of a new regional Mother and Baby mental health unit has been revealed.

Preparatory building work officially started in November on the £7.5m single storey building, which is the first of its kind across Cheshire, Merseyside, and North Wales.

The name ‘Seren Lodge’ has been chosen by Mums who have experienced maternal mental ill-health and features a nod to the new cross-border partnership with NHS Wales.

 

Nia Foulkes, APP storyteller, said: “It was important to the group to choose a name which signified hope and positivity, but also something which was welcoming to families no matter where they live. The name ‘Seren’ translates as ‘star’ in Welsh and ‘lodge’ felt homely and not clinical at all, which we thought was perfect.

 

Sarah Dearden, APP storyteller, added: “Having previously been admitted to a unit which was really far away from home, it is particularly exciting to see the new site as it today and know that our ideas and designs are being put into action. Units like this make a huge impact by keeping babies and their mothers together at a crucial time.”

 

The unit is a result of a partnership between Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CWP), Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCHUB), Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, NHS England and NHS Wales and will see a disused training centre transformed into a new specialist, eight bedded unit for perinatal mothers, babies and their families. Once open the unit will work alongside the existing regional Community Perinatal Mental Health service who already care for thousands of women every year.

 

The occasion was marked with a special ground-breaking ceremony. Mums from across the region joined members of the clinical, construction and project teams to place the first official spade in the ground.

 

Preparatory work on the project is progressing well with both external and internal designs agreed, enabling building works underway and recruitment for the new centre set to begin imminently.

 

 

 

Suzanne Edwards, CWP director of operations and deputy CEO, said: “The new unit will support new and expectant mothers in a therapeutic environment which has been purposefully designed for people experiencing maternal mental health difficulties, such as post-natal depression, psychosis or a relapse of an existing mental health condition.

“It is estimated that one in four women experience mental health problems in pregnancy and during the 24 months after giving birth. Whilst only a small number of women will need admission to a specialist unit like Seren Lodge, I’m delighted that we’ll be able to offer this care closer to home, in addition to the thousands of families we see in the community every year.”

 

 

A group of people in hi vis jackets and hard hats, holding a spade. The photo includes APP storytellers Sarah (front row, second left) and Nia (front row 3rd right), along with APP’s national co-ordinator Hannah Bissett (front row 2nd right) join the team to celebrate the groundbreaking
APP storytellers Sarah (front row, second left) and Nia (front row 3rd right), along with APP’s national co-ordinator Hannah Bissett (front row 2nd right) join the team to celebrate the groundbreaking

 

 

Dr Alberto Salmoiraghi, medical director for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board’s Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Division, said: “We’re delighted that Seren Lodge will enable high quality specialist care to be provided to new and expectant mothers from across North Wales, Cheshire, Wirral, and Merseyside in a purpose built, recovery focused environment.

“Women from North Wales who have a lived experience of perinatal mental illness have played a central role in designing this new service and we’re very pleased to see that this is reflected in the name of the unit. We look forward to continuing to work with our partners in Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust to deliver this much-needed unit.”

 

Once open, Seren Lodge will provide a home from home for women and their babies and include a nursery, sensory room, and multiple lounges to support quiet time and family visits. Having access to outside spaces is central to the development with two garden areas and a walking pram loop, with families benefitting from close access to the Countess Country Park.

 

Dr Jessica Heron, APP’s chief executive, added:
“We are so delighted to see the progress being made. The new unit will mean new mothers across North Wales, Cheshire and Merseyside with severe postnatal illness will be cared for appropriately and supported with parenting, without having to travel miles from their families to other areas of the UK or ending up in adult psychiatric wards separated from their newborn. APP has been working with the team to ensure the voices of lived experience are heard throughout the development process, inputting into the design and functionality of the MBU. APP volunteers are keen to ensure the unit meets the needs of families from across North Wales and Cheshire and Merseyside.”

 

Seren Lodge is set to open next winter.

17 January 2024

Francoise’s story: It was 24 years before I spoke to someone else who experienced PP – it’s never too late to access peer support

It took me 24 years to access peer support through APP after my experience of postpartum psychosis (PP) in 1998, but it has completely changed my life. I went from being a survivor to actually living my life, and the self-stigma I used to feel has diminished dramatically. 

We had no idea what postpartum psychosis was.

I had never heard of PP when I was diagnosed with it after giving birth to my first child. While I’d had a fairly difficult birth, my pregnancy was fairly easy, and I had lots of support from my husband and family. In retrospect, however, my elation and need for perfection after the birth was a definite warning sign.

I wasn’t sleeping much but I figured that was normal for a new mum. One night, however, I had this terrible feeling – like I was being struck by lightning. It was like some kind of out of body experience and I became obsessed by the idea that my daughter was the second coming of Christ. I spoke to my husband and my mum and they both knew something was very wrong.

Sadly, however, even though my husband was calling our GP surgery, nobody spotted the problem. After four different GPs saw me and suggested I simply had baby blues, we eventually saw a psychiatrist who diagnosed me with PP. I was then rushed to hospital by ambulance and spent a night on a mixed ward.

My mother-in-law was also incredibly supportive, and she had trained as a nurse and had worked in midwifery so she knew about Mother and Baby Units (MBUs) and said that I needed to be treated at one. She and my husband pushed for a transfer and I was thankfully given a bed on the MBU in West London.

I was very delusional by this point and I ended up staying there, with my baby daughter Eva, for three months (although during the final month I was able to go home for short periods of time).

It was a really traumatic time. I wasn’t really aware of how unwell I was, and I found it incredibly upsetting that I was unable to breastfeed due to the medication I was on. It felt like a primal wound not to be able to breastfeed when I really wanted to.

My recovery felt quite sudden.

Although it took me a long while to get better, I remember waking up one day and feeling suddenly quite different. I was still incredibly anxious though and felt frightened at being left alone with my baby. And I was feeling very ashamed because I didn’t fully understand PP and knew nobody else who had experienced it.

Looking back, I think I was looking after my baby girl really quite well, but my lack of confidence was so low. It was a different time back then in the 90s, and I had no access to therapy or peer support, so I felt very isolated. However, I carried on, feeling more like a soldier than a mum.

I did access a local mother and baby group and made some good friends there, but I felt so ashamed talking about what I had gone through. The two friends I made through that group were so compassionate though, and my experience of PP didn’t put them off being my friend.

I gave birth to a second child, a boy, and it all went really well. I had been told that I was at risk of another episode of PP after giving birth again, but nobody said there was a risk of a psychotic episode months later. And this is precisely what happened when my little boy was three years old . I was eventually diagnosed with bipolar and experienced a few more episodes and hospital admissions over the years which deeply affected me. I felt as though I had this awful illness that I was stuck with forever, and I was overwhelmed with feelings of hopelessness.

Thankfully, I haven’t experienced another episode since 2015, but it’s not just the time that has elapsed that has helped me come to terms with my illness. It’s the peer support that I found through APP that has really helped me to feel more hopeful and less alone.

It was 2022 when I found out about APP’s peer support.

I reached out to APP and the first person I spoke to who had experienced PP was Ellie, and it was such a moving moment. After all these years, I’d finally found someone else who had been through what I had.

It was like after all these years, and this long ordeal that felt so hard and endless, I was able to see that there was light at the end of the tunnel. My husband and I also went along to an APP café group and we met all these beautiful people. They were much younger than me and my husband, but we both sat listening to them with tears in our eyes. We had never cried about the experience before. It was like relief. Finally, we could face what had happened and address it in a more open way.

I think in all the years previous to this I had been so determined to get through life that I forgot to address it, to face it head on. Now I am doing it all with my eyes open, with less shame and with so much more support. I always had my husband, my family and the brilliant staff at the MBU. But being with others who have been where you are is so powerful.

My daughter Eva is now 25 and she came along to one of the meetings too. They can help all family members – whether you have experienced PP yourself, your partner has or your daughter or parent has.

Now I feel like I can give something back, I can share my story so that other women going through this  won’t feel as alone as I did.

There’s a dangerous myth about perfection in motherhood – and peer support reminds us that nobody’s perfect and that if we are struck by postnatal mental illness that is no reflection on who we are or how good a mother we are.

The illness is the illness, it is what it is, but the stigma and isolation need to be worked on. I was unlucky to get the illness, but I was lucky to have my husband’s love and the support of others. I feel very lucky and privileged in that sense and I don’t want young women to go through the same isolation that I did for all those years.

But I also think it’s important to mention that it’s never too late to benefit from peer support. Whether you’ve just experienced PP in the last year, or whether it’s something that affected you many years or even decades ago, reaching out and hearing from others is a comforting and life changing experience.

Don’t hesitate to find your community. It really has helped to change my life.

30 October 2023

Natalie’s story: If I had known what postpartum psychosis was, I might have asked for help.

I knew there was a possibility that I might get postnatal depression after giving birth and that really scared me. But nobody ever told me about the possibility of developing postpartum psychosis (PP).

In 2013 I gave birth to my beautiful daughter Maya. Everything felt amazing - almost magical. It felt like a miracle giving birth to this precious baby and I just couldn’t believe I was now a mum.

But things began to unravel really quickly, and I became very unwell.

Looking back, the first sign of PP for me was extreme happiness. Yes, you may think that is completely normal, but I was actually hysterically laughing at times while watching my baby. My mood felt high, as though I was drunk with excitement and my whole body felt like it had been pumped with adrenaline.

My mind and thoughts began to race constantly. I was speaking to anyone who would listen but I wasn’t making sense. It was like my mind was too tired to think but the words continued to jumble out of my mouth.

I began to feel stressed about the aftercare I received in hospital after my baby was born. The experience would play over and over in my mind so I told a midwife who suggested I write everything down.

Each day passed and new topics would pop into my head. I felt like my brain was going to explode and I began writing down all of my thoughts, feelings and ideas into a long essay. At one point I believed I had found the answer to why so many mums were getting postnatal depression, feeling suicidal and having their babies taken away.

However, deep down I knew that something wasn’t quite right. So when a midwife came to visit me at home, I mentioned that I felt like I was hallucinating. I also told her that I hadn’t slept in days and had too much energy. To me she seemed dismissive – or maybe she hadn’t heard me. I’m not sure but nothing much was said about it.

Because the midwife had a bad cough when she visited, I became anxious that she had passed an infection on to my baby. Worse still, I started to believe that this midwife would go back to the GP practice and infect all the pregnant women and newborn babies there. I believed it was my mission to stop this from happening by putting in a complaint and trying to close down the labour ward to stop the infection from spreading.

My mind had become delusional.

Around this time, a midwife mentioned to me that they would be improving their labour support and that any suggestions from new mums would be great to feed into their next meeting.

My brain misinterpreted this information completely. I believed that The Labour Government wanted new mums to come to a special meeting to discuss any changes we would like to see for women going through labour. I was excited about this high-profile opportunity which was very unlike me as I am usually quiet and certainly not someone who would enjoy public speaking! However, I decided I would present my findings on the essay I completed, believing them to be of great importance.

I then started to become extremely paranoid about the midwives at the hospital and believed that they were conspiring to stop me from speaking to the government. I was scared that they would falsely claim that I was mentally ill and shut me in a psychiatric hospital and take away my baby.

I was so anxious that this was going to happen that I packed my suitcase on several occasions, wanting to take myself and Maya to a secret location where we would not be found.

Then, while visiting my Nepalese mother-in-law, she noticed I was acting strangely and called a local witch doctor to perform a spiritual ritual to remove evil spirits from my body. It prompted me to suddenly start believing in the Christian Faith and I visited the church a few times - maybe as a way of getting help. But this was short lived and I did not return.

I also became concerned that the midwives were watching or filming me through the TV. So I picked the TV up and turned it around. I began to feel so scared to be left alone with my baby and begged my husband to take more paternity leave as his two weeks off were coming to an end.

I remember hallucinating when I was watching my daughter and I thought I could see her eyes change. While sleeping I could also see something black curled up at the side of my bed which I believed to be the shadow of another baby.

Road signs started to have deep personal meanings, and numbers started to pop into my head. I felt as though I was being given the winning lottery numbers so went out and bought a ticket. Of course I didn’t win!

Because of my paranoia about the midwives, I called up my work and asked a colleague for a character reference, thinking this would save me from being admitted to a psychiatric hospital. My colleague must have thought I was acting very strangely so they called the mental health team.

The perinatal mental health team got involved at that point and a doctor came to visit, diagnosing me as having experienced a hypomanic episode. I gave part truths of my symptoms as I thought if I was completely honest about what was happening they’d take me to a psychiatric hospital.

In the end, I didn’t go into hospital or receive any treatment. My illness lasted around three weeks but I was lucky – it could have been so much worse.

Four years later, I realised that I was actually suffering from postpartum psychosis – yet I refused to share that realisation with the midwife during my second pregnancy out of stigma and fear. However, I reluctantly admitted my hidden illness during my third pregnancy to protect my children should I experience PP again.

There continues to be huge stigma surrounding mental illness and it’s so difficult for mothers and family members to come forward and ask for help. After my experience of PP I have never felt the same and went on to battle postnatal depression and anxiety after having my second and third child. This battle continues to this day, but I have recently found comfort in the church to cope and heal.

It pains me to see so many stories of mothers dying by suicide - so much more awareness is needed to increase knowledge of this often hidden and misunderstood illness and the devastating outcomes that can happen when people don’t get help.

I hope that sharing my experience will play a part in this awareness. I refused help because I was scared. But I’ve learnt that it’s important to be honest with the health team if you are experiencing any symptoms which are out of character. They are there to help new mums – not the opposite. I know it is a very scary experience to go through but getting help is vital for yourself and your baby.

Stock photo of baby’s hand by Aditya Romansa on Unsplash

19 October 2023

Laura's 50 miles in a month!

Laura wearing her purple APP running vestThis October, mum of two Laura Walton is taking on a massive Miles for Mums and Babies challenge - running 50 miles in a month for APP.  Laura admits she is not a runner – saying she hasn’t run since before her wedding in 2014!  But she is keen to take on this challenge for APP to help raise awareness and funds.

Laura is passionate about raising awareness of postpartum psychosis since she herself was diagnosed after the birth of her first baby, Katie.  Laura had worked in childcare for nearly 20 years and felt like there was nothing she didn’t know about babies and children – but in all her years of working with children and parents, she had never heard about postpartum psychosis.

After her baby was born, Laura says she just didn’t feel right – ‘everything felt weird’ - and she could hear voices in her head.  She became obsessed with the idea of her baby getting ill or dying and felt she had to stay awake to keep watch over Katie. After 10 days with no sleep, her husband took her to hospital where, even though she shared exactly how she was feeling, her symptoms were not recognised as PP and she was not admitted.  As is often the case with PP, things got worse quickly, and Laura ended up being sectioned, with six police officers involved.  After being separated from her baby and held overnight in a room in the hospital, finally she was admitted to Leeds MBU. This was two hours away from her home and family, but it meant she could be together with her baby. Her husband and mother visited every day, spending hours travelling to and fro. Laura spent more than three months in the MBU, then was cared for by her community mental health team at home until she fully recovered.

Her journey to recovery was long and challenging, but after four years she felt well enough to be able to try for another baby – fully understanding that PP might come back, but she felt prepared for this and wanted to try.  As soon as she got pregnant, she started to feel early symptoms, so quickly accessed support and suitable medication, which kept her and her baby healthy throughout the rest of her pregnancy.

Laura is challenging herself to run 50 miles this month because she wants everyone to be aware of the signs and symptoms of PP, and to know how quickly it can affect new mums and mums to be. She says:

‘When I was ill, no one ever told me or my her family that I would get better – it was terrifying to think I might never be myself again.’

Laura is now back to the person she was before. She very aware of what can affect her mental health and is mindful about looking after herself.  She’s studying counselling and wants to do more to help understanding of mental health, particularly in new mothers.

She plans to celebrate completing her final mile with a party for all her family and friends at the end of the month.

To support Laura’s 50 mile challenge, visit her GoFundMe page here.

Thank you for your support Laura!

7 September 2023

APP calls for more support for maternal mental health this World Suicide Prevention Day

This World Suicide Prevention Day (10 September), APP is calling for more awareness and support for perinatal mental health as maternal suicides continue to devastate families around the world.

Suicide accounts for around 20% (1 in 5) deaths in the postnatal period worldwide. Before APP existed as a charity, postpartum psychosis (PP) was responsible for almost half of all maternal suicides in the UK. While there has been a sharp decline in PP related deaths over the last decade since the charity’s inception, numbers have been on the rise since the pandemic.

Dr Jess Heron, CEO, Action on Postpartum Psychosis, said: “Over the last decade, national awareness of PP has improved, health professional training increased, we have more Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) beds and better support services for women struggling with PP.

“But we are concerned that, following a decade long decline in PP related deaths, we have recently seen an increase in bereaved families coming to APP. This rise in PP related deaths has multiple and complex causes that need to be explored and responded to before more women’s lives are tragically and needlessly lost. In the meantime, we all need to know how to look out for PP in our loved ones as they start their families.”

Black and white photo of an African American woman holding her baby looking just off camera

PP is a serious but eminently treatable perinatal mental illness that affects around 1400 women every year in the UK. It occurs in the days, weeks or months after birth, and should always be treated as a medical emergency, with swift admission to a specialist MBU wherever possible.

Symptoms might include hallucinations, delusions, severe confusion, mania and agitation. Early warning signs might include feeling overly excited or elated, being unable or not wanting to sleep, becoming paranoid or anxious, extremely active or feeling like ‘super mum’ or as though everyday events on the TV or radio have special personal meaning.

Earlier this year in Northern Ireland – where there are currently no MBU beds – a coroner ruled that the tragic death by suicide of Orlaith Quinn, who was suffering from PP, was both foreseeable and preventable. Spotting the signs early and arranging for an emergency referral to a specialist MBU is paramount in preventing PP related deaths, and yet there is no mandatory training in PP for health professionals, antenatal education rarely includes mention of awareness of PP, and there is a shortage of beds across the UK – particularly in NI, Northern Scotland and North Wales.

Dr Heron added: “All PP-related deaths are preventable. But we need the right treatment pathways in place – and healthcare professionals, be they GPs, crisis teams or first responders - need a basic awareness of the signs and symptoms so women and their families can be supported as a matter of urgency. That’s why we are encouraging participation in our short training programmes. Having just a basic knowledge and some understanding of what to look out for could save a life. And that is no exaggeration.”

 

Free webinar for health professionals

In light of this, APP is hosting a Memorial Lecture in October, in memory of Alex Baish, a teacher and new mum who died while experiencing the symptoms of PP last year. Taking place on Wednesday 18 October between 12pm and 1.30pm, the free webinar is aimed at GPs, midwives, antenatal educators and frontline responders. The event titled “Essential Knowledge for Preventing Maternal Suicide” will describe the symptoms, red flags and actions needed to support and protect women who develop the condition and includes a Q&A with speakers and APP’s clinical, academic and lived experience experts.

For more information or to book your free place click here or email training@app-network.org

Photos by Hollie Santos on Unsplash and Andrae B. Ricketts Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/alttr_photography/

 

15 August 2023

A day in the life of…a Peer Support Facilitator: Natalie

Natalie Thompson has worked with APP since 2019 and is based in our Birmingham and Solihull peer support teams. Having experienced PP twice herself in 2003 and 2007, and later being diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2010, Natalie helps support women and families affected by PP (or other illnesses featuring manic or psychotic symptoms). After treatment in an acute psychiatric ward and fantastic care at the Birmingham Mother and Baby Unit (MBU), Natalie knows how challenging it can be to settle back into everyday life.

Here, she shares a typical day in the life of her role with APP.

08:45

I always start the day with a cup of tea to wake me up. Steaming hot brew at the ready, I’ll check my emails to see if there’s anything urgent I need to respond to and contact any women I am due to see that day to make sure meeting is still convenient for them.

09:00

I’ll make my way over to a local children's centre where I support with NHS Perinatal groups such as Play and Stay and Baby Massage. Sometimes I help facilitate other interventions such as Tree of Life and Five to Thrive.

It's good to have a Peer in the groups to be able to support the mums as someone who’s walked in similar shoes.  I know from personal experience that chatting to someone who has been through what you have is such a big help and makes you feel less alone in your recovery (which also helps to speed up recovery).

12:00

To end the morning, I might refresh my skills by taking part in training and shared learning. Sometimes this will be provided by the brilliant team at APP, but, as a partner of the local NHS Trust, we are also able to access NHS training and development too. It’s always good to keep learning and hearing best practice and I feel lucky that this is something APP is so supportive of.

12:30

Time for a lunch break and another cup of tea!

13:00

After lunch, I might attend an MDT meeting - multi disciplinary team meeting. This might be attended by clinicians, nursery nurses etc. and some of the issues we might address could include women on the high risk pathway and admissions to the MBU.

14:00

Next I’ll make sure I get moving and get some fresh air by doing a social walk with one of the women on my caseload who is recovering from PP. These ‘walk and talk’ peer support meetings are great – especially for women who feel anxious leaving the house alone and those who don’t have a great social network. Getting out is difficult for new mums as it is, but even more so when you’re recovering from severe mental illness – and we know that exercise and fresh air both contribute to wellness so it’s a win-win.  From these meet ups I’ll write up my notes to make sure I am able to reflect on any areas I need to follow up on.

15:00

I will make time to contact women on my caseload to see if they want to talk through anything over the phone or indeed want to meet up in the coming weeks.

Next, I might prepare for the APP café group – a session where several women get together to share their experiences or just to socialise with others who have been through similar experiences.  I’ll check out the venue, make sure they have good facilities and open space for little ones, etc. Then, I’ll email participants a little reminder of where café groups take place, and check on the dreaded weather!

16:30

Time to clock off. That’s the great thing about working for a charity that’s committed to mums and babies spending time together – they like to ensure your work doesn’t eat too much into your family time! So even when I work from home, I’m pretty strict about clocking off at the end of my shift and joining my family for a relaxing evening.

To find out more about current APP peer support job vacancies, click here.

26 July 2023

Samantha’s story: I was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder after PP - but it’s not the life sentence I thought it was going to be

I’d never experienced any real mental health problems prior to being diagnosed with postpartum psychosis. However, six years later, following another psychotic episode, I was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and told I’d need medication for life. But after learning how to better manage my health and wellbeing, I’ve been symptom-free for over seven years. Now, I want to inspire others by showing that, despite your diagnosis, you can go on to live a healthy and happy life.

In 2005 I gave birth for the first time. I had quite a large baby - he was nearly 10 pounds and, following a forceps delivery, I lost a lot of blood. It was a terrifying time, I had to have a blood transfusion, I hadn’t slept for three days straight before the birth and I really believed I was going to die.

Looking back, it definitely felt as though this trauma marked the beginning of my mental health problems.

After the blood transfusion I could feel that something wasn’t right. I even joked that they’d ‘given me the blood of a mad man’. They wanted me to see a psychiatrist at this point but I denied that there was anything wrong with me and they let me go home with my baby.

After getting home my family became really concerned. I trashed the house and experienced visions, so they got the mental health team involved and I ended up being sectioned.

My memories of that time are still quite hazy and I feel I have blocked a lot of it out as a protection mechanism, but some of the visions I experienced are still very vivid. I am certain I was never suicidal and I didn’t have any worrying thoughts about my baby, but things definitely weren’t right with me.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t a Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) nearby and my then husband had to make a decision for me to go into a general psychiatric ward, as I wasn’t able to articulate myself how I wanted to be treated.

My experience on the mixed ward was not a good one, and there were some awful incidents that traumatised me. I wasn’t sleeping and was continually walking around the wards apparently putting myself at risk amongst some of the unwell male patients. I remember being restrained and put in seclusion on more than one occasion. I also felt uncomfortable when there were usually just male members of staff on duty especially at night. I had already had a traumatic time giving birth and all of this just added to the distress. This would not have happened had I been sent to where I should have been – an MBU. I ended up staying on the general ward for 28 long days.

I was told that there was a 50% chance of me getting PP again if I had another baby. However, 19 months later, having given birth to my daughter, I felt more prepared.

I had a planned c-section, knew what to look out for and felt more supported. I had a mental health team keep an eye on me throughout the process but refused any type of medication. Thankfully, I didn’t experience PP following my daughter’s birth.

However, after being well for six years, I experienced a psychotic episode, which I believe was linked to the trauma and I ended up back in the psychiatric unit for 28 days again. This was in 2011 and between then and 2016 I ended up being sectioned four more times for subsequent episodes.

I was initially diagnosed with bipolar disorder and then told it was actually schizoaffective disorder which was a real shock as there is so much stigma attached to the label. My family were told that my condition was so severe I would need medication for life, which really affected me as I had always preferred a holistic approach, so I kept stopping the medication they supplied me with. Because of this they were unable to trust me and had to give me monthly injections which I also found traumatic.

My last episode was in 2016 due to a lot of stress in my life within a short period and I was hospitalised for three months. During that time my mind and body totally shut down and I couldn’t communicate with anyone. Luckily, this time, I was in a women only ward.

After this last event I was referred to an extremely good NHS psychiatrist who did not believe that everyone with this condition needed to be on medication for life. He worked with me over a long period of time and carefully weaned me off my medication so that by 2019 I was medication free. It was at this time I decided to work on healing myself and dealing with past traumas through reiki and other holistic therapies.

My experiences inspired me to want to give something back to others, and I now work full time supporting adults with learning difficulties.

Another big achievement was buying my own house in 2020 – something I never believed would be possible.

There’s a lot more to my story but for the last seven years things have been great. I have had my ups and downs like everyone else - especially during Covid and working in a care home. I have dealt with a lot during this time but have managed to stay well. I really want to express that a psychiatric diagnosis doesn’t mean you are written off and it doesn’t have to be a life sentence. I am now leading a normal and happy life and in some ways, I wouldn’t change a thing as it’s made me the strong woman I am today.