31 October 2021

APP October 2021 Newsletter

World Mental Health Day

It’s World Mental Health Day on 10th October and this year’s theme is ‘mental health in an unequal world.’

Each year about 140,000 women around the world will experience postpartum psychosis (PP). Their experience of care varies hugely, within the UK inequality remains. In Northern Ireland, around 35 women will experience PP each year, with no access to a Mother and Baby Unit (MBU). In Wales, 50 women will develop PP: women in the north have to travel to South Wales or over the border into England for care. Half of women in Scotland who need a MBU bed still do not receive one. General psychiatric wards are inappropriate for newly-delivered women, lacking appropriate facilities, access to specialist professionals and knowledge, and forcing separation from babies.

You can help by sharing our social media calls on World Mental Health Day for access to MBUs for women who experience PP wherever they live in the world. If you live in an area without access to an MBU please get in touch. We'd love to hear your story.

APP volunteer, Oorlagh Quinn, has set up a petition calling for a Mother and Baby Unit in Northern Ireland. More than 3,000 people have signed the petition so far but we need more signatures. To find out more about Oorlagh’s campaign for an MBU in Northern Ireland and to sign the petition, click here.

If you have experienced PP and live in Northern Ireland we’d love you to become a volunteer with us as we try to build our peer support, campaigning and storytelling networks in the region.

APP 2021 UK survey

The APP 2021 PP Care survey will be dropping through your door, ahead of World Mental Health Day on the 10th October. The survey will look at inequalities in access to Mother and Baby Units across the UK and the impact of this on recovery outcomes for women and families. We’ll be asking how many women were treated in MBUs, how far you had to travel, and we’ll be looking at the benefits of MBU care versus other forms of care. We’ll also be looking at the changes that have happened since our first survey of care for PP ten years ago.

Please look out for the survey. It will take around 30 minutes, but it will help with our campaigning over the next 10 years. Our first survey was completed by 218 women who had experienced PP – we’d love to reach 500 this time. Make sure we have your postal address if you’d like to help.

Partner peer support cycle challenge

APP’s Partner Peer Support Coordinator, Simon, is embarking on a mammoth 850-mile virtual cycling challenge to help raise awareness of the impact of postpartum psychosis (PP) on the partners of women who develop the illness.

Simon’s bike ride will follow a virtual path between the UK’s Mother and Baby Units (MBUs) – specialist psychiatric facilities for mothers experiencing severe postnatal mental illness. He'll be organising virtual meetings with MBU staff when he arrives at each unit to find out more about how MBUs support partners, as well as chatting to a number of dads and partners who have been through PP along the way.

Simon's wife received treatment in an MBU after developing PP 15 years ago. Simon says: “When my wife was diagnosed it was a frightening time – not least because we had no prior knowledge of postpartum psychosis. But in many ways, I feel that we were incredibly lucky in that we were able to access care in an MBU less than a 40-minute drive away – in my work with APP, I realise that many other families aren’t so lucky.”

APP’s Partner Peer Support project was set up in June 2020 and provides support for the partners of women affected by PP via a one-to-one email, phone and video call support; and online group meet ups.

Simon and his team of volunteers are available to talk or write to any partners of women who have had PP. It can be a big relief to talk to someone else who has lived through their partner experiencing PP, and Simon and the volunteers can share what helped them, or just be a friendly listening ear.

If you are a partner of someone with PP who'd appreciate talking to Simon or one of our other volunteers please don't hesitate to contact him.

To find out more about Simon’s story, and to sponsor his cycle ride, you can visit his JustGiving page here.

If you are a partner and use Zwift, Simon would love some support and virtual chats as he completes his journey. You'll also be able to follow him on Strava. Simon will begin his challenge this weekend.

Health Professional training

Book now for our online postpartum psychosis training. The full day training will be led by: Professor Ian Jones, Consultant Perinatal Psychiatrist and leading academic researcher in postpartum psychosis; Dr Sally Wilson, Training and Research Coordinator at APP and Expert by Experience; and Dr Jessica Heron, APP Chief Executive and Senior Research Fellow in Perinatal Psychiatry at Birmingham University.

The training is suitable for any professionals working with pregnant and postnatal women and families and draws upon cutting-edge research in postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder and the real experiences of women and families. The course will develop knowledge and confidence in identifying and managing risk, developing pregnancy and postnatal management plans, identifying early symptoms, and providing high quality support to women and families from preconception to recovery.

Feedback from previous courses has been excellent:

“I think this training is essential for midwives, health visitors and social workers.”

"I thought this training was absolutely excellent. It was invaluable to hear lived experience and I felt confident in the absolute expertise of everyone included.”

"Today helped me understand the evidence base to inform my clinical work.”

"I enjoyed the case study discussions. The research was fascinating and enlightening. The lived experiences were so powerful.”

The next workshops will be held on Thursday 14th October and Monday 29th November 2021. You can book your place here.

If you have any queries or for further information, email Sally, APP's Training and Research Coordinator on training@app-network.org

Café groups update

The Lancashire and Cumbria Project face to face café groups have restarted after the lifting of Covid restrictions. Groups ran in Blackpool and the Preston/Chorley area in September. It was a bit breezy in Blackpool but lovely to see some mums (pictured above) we hadn't seen in person for a very long time! If you are interested in attending any of the Lancashire and Cumbria regional café groups please contact Jocelyn at lancsandcumbria@app-network.org.

September also saw the first café group meet up for APP’s Morpeth project, where Sharon – our Peer Support Facilitator – is working in collaboration with Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust providing peer support to inpatients at Beadnell MBU. The café group is open to anyone who has experienced PP in the region. For more information contact morpeth@app-network.org.

Our Birmingham NHS partnership project is expanding into the Black Country later in the year. You can get in touch with the team at birmingham@app-network.org to find out more; whether you experienced PP recently or years ago, we would love you to get involved in the project.

We’re delighted that some of our café groups are now running in person again. Alongside face to face groups, we continue to offer: virtual café groups in other areas of the UK; activity groups; one to one video call meet ups with a volunteer; one to one email support; and our online community where you can ask questions and meet others wherever you live. Whatever stage of "life after PP" you are at, APP's peer support is here for you and your family. You can get in touch to find out more.

Full details and dates of all our meet-ups can be found later in this newsletter and on our Facebook events page.

Grandparents' peer support

APP often supports grandparents at the time their daughter or son is going through PP. We have recently trained a small number of grandparents as peer volunteers. We are delighted to be running our first group video call for any grandparents who are supporting, or have supported, their children through postpartum psychosis.

If you would like to talk about your experience of supporting a loved one or are happy to share your experiences with others, you are very welcome to join us for this informal virtual get together with APP staff and other grandparents who have ‘been there’.

The first meeting is being planned for late October/early November. For more information contact Ellie: ellie@app-network.org.

Spring bulb planting

A huge thank you to APP volunteer Gemma Vinter (pictured above, right) who teamed up with staff at Stafford’s Mother and Baby Unit to plant 240 spring bulbs in the ward’s garden.

Gemma has been sourcing donations of bulbs to give to the UK’s 22 MBUs to help brighten up their grounds. She visited the Brockington Unit at St George’s Hospital in Stafford in September to begin planting there, and was joined by Laura Fox (pictured above, left) from the MBU as well as other members of the team.

Gemma says she hopes that spending time outside with lots of lovely plants and flowers will encourage a little bit of “me time” to help patients’ recovery, alongside the invaluable help and treatment that MBUs provide.

Laura and some of her colleagues from Brockington MBU will be climbing Snowdon this weekend to raise money for APP. You can find out more and support their challenge here.

In the media

APP Ambassador Laura Dockrill was on Radio 4’s Four Thought on 15th September describing her experience of PP. In her essay ‘And They Said We’d Be Glowing’ she calls for a wider conversation about risks to perinatal mental health. You can listen here.

Laura talked to Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour on Wednesday 22nd September talking about how her experience of PP shaped her new book, ‘The Dream House’. Listen to the interview here. She’s also written a stigma-busting article for October’s issue of @happifulhq – do look out for a copy!

Author Catherine Cho and APP volunteer Lobeh Osagie-Asiah took part in the BBC World Service programme The Conversation on Monday 9th August discussing how PP affected them and their families. You can listen to the programme here. If you are from a community that is underrepresented in the media please get in touch and share your story to help us reach more families affected by postpartum psychosis. Email app@app-network.org.

Amazon Smile and Give as you Live

If you shop online you can now help to raise money for APP by signing up to Amazon Smile and Give As You Live.

Amazon Smile is operated by Amazon and features the same products. When you shop on Amazon Smile, 0.5% of the cost of products are donated to your chosen charity. Sign up to Amazon Smile here. If you’ve already got an Amazon account, log in as normal and search for Action on Postpartum Psychosis on the right-hand side of the screen. Click to accept us as your chosen charity and you’re ready to start shopping!

You can also shop online with Give as you Live. To help raise money for APP, you can sign up for a free account here.

Thank you!

Our fantastic fundraisers

We are incredibly grateful for the continued support of our fundraisers. We would like to thank everyone who has hosted an event in aid of APP, as well as those who have donated; your support is greatly appreciated. We have had a fantastic response too for our #MilesForMumsAndBabies challenge. Thank you.

Virgin Money London Marathon. This year’s event is made up of a traditional 26 mile run on the streets of London as well as a virtual marathon, giving runners the chance to cover the distance on a course of their choice. APP has several runners taking part in this year’s events: Jason Sales (pictured bottom row, far left) and Andy Rolfe are in the live event, whilst Sophie Raynor (pictured bottom row, right), Dave Orridge, Esther Land, and Karen Lacey (pictured bottom row, middle) have signed up for the virtual run. We’re delighted that they have chosen to support APP: please visit their fundraising pages to find out more.

Royal Parks Half Marathon. We have four amazing runners taking part in the Royal Parks Half Marathon on Sunday 10th October Sally Hogg, Nicola Ball, Jeni Dibley-Rouse and Anneka Harry. The event takes in the capital’s world-famous landmarks on closed roads, and four of London’s eight Royal Parks – Hyde Park, The Green Park, St James’s Park and Kensington Gardens. Please support our 'fab four' and donate what you can via their online pages. With huge thanks to Sally, Nicola, Jeni and Anneka for all their hard work - we wish them all the best with their training and hope they have lots of autumn sunshine on 10th October.

Amy Coutts-Britton is taking part in the Oswestry 10k on Sunday 17th October 2021. Amy is a peer support volunteer with APP and has attended events, meeting other mums like her who have experienced PP. You can visit and donate to her fundraising page here.

Steve Bushell is running the Yorkshire Marathon on Sunday 17th October for APP. Steve’s wife Jo experienced PP after the birth of their first child and spent time in an MBU where she received great care as part of her recovery. You can visit and donate to Steve’s fundraising page here.

Alice Stroud, an APP volunteer, is taking part in five triathlons over the next twelve months working towards the Olympic triathlon distance (a 1,500-metre swim, 40km bike ride and 10km run). Alice experienced psychosis twice during pregnancy in 2019 and into 2020 and says that APP offered peer and group support along with information to her and her family, helping her stay focused and feel supported. Her fundraiser has already raised more than £1,400. You can visit and donate to Alice’s fundraising page here.

London Landmarks Half Marathon. A huge thank you to our three amazing runners who took part in this year’s event on Sunday 1st August. Andy Rolfe, Kirsty Curtis, and Emma raised more than £2,600 for APP.

Andy’s partner Emily experienced PP in 2017 and was admitted to a Mother and Baby Unit (MBU). Andy says thanks to the wonderful NHS staff and APP support she has made a full recovery, and their family is healthy and happy. Since recovering, Emily has started volunteering for APP, sharing their experiences with new MBU staff and other medical professions. Andy's fundraising page is here.

Kirsty experienced PP after the birth of her daughter and was treated in Bournemouth MBU. During her recovery she found APP, allowing her to meet others who have been through the illness, which helped her to feel less isolated and alone. She says if it wasn’t for APP and the women she met through them, her recovery journey could have been a lot longer and harder. You can see Kirsty’s JustGiving page here.

Emma experienced PP after the birth of her second son and was treated in an MBU. She says that the MBU, the Community NHS Teams and the Adult Mental Health Services have been amazing during her recovery. She ran the half marathon in the hope that donations help other mums and their families. You can still visit and donate to Emma’s JustGiving page here.

Kimberley Mace and her best friend took part in a skydive on Saturday 11th September 2021 for APP. Kimberley experienced PP in November 2015 after the birth of her son, and was initially treated on a general psychiatric ward at Ipswich hospital before being admitted to her local hospital at Wedgewood. Kimberley says that APP helped her to understand what exactly she was diagnosed with, and she used the forum to help answer her questions when she had her daughter. Her challenge has raised more than £590. You can still visit and donate to her fundraising page here.

Amy Shaw ran the Great North Run on Sunday 12th September to raise awareness and money to support APP’s work. Amy’s sister-in-law Katherine experienced PP in 2020 and was hospitalised in hospital for four months during lockdown. Amy’s fundraiser has raised more than £1,700. You can still visit and donate to her fundraising page here.

Michelle Bell, one of APP’s volunteers, and her friend Sinead paddle boarded 10 miles along the River Thames near Oxford in September to support APP’s work. Michelle experienced PP ten years ago and was initially admitted to an adult mental health ward before being transferred to an MBU where her daughter stayed with her. Michelle and Sinead’s fundraiser has raised more than £450. You can visit and donate to their fundraising page here.

Emily Saunders, a peer support volunteer with APP, is aiming to walk and cycle 500 miles between 1st July and 14th November 2021. These dates are important to her as they are the dates she went into and then finally came out of the Nottingham MBU in 2017 (having had two stays) when she had PP, severe PND and anxiety after the birth of her daughter. Emily chose the distance as it represents the almost 500 miles from the most northerly to the most southerly MBU. Find out more about her challenge and support her here.

The team from the new Perinatal Mental Health Service in Ayrshire and Arran (pictured above, top row) are challenging themselves to walk 1,400 miles throughout October. They’ll be working with mums who are affected by severe mental illness in the perinatal period and want to take part in #MilesForMumsAndBabies to raise awareness of PP, support APP, and come together as a team. They chose the distance as it represents the 1,400 mums who experience PP in the UK each year. Find out more and support their challenge here.

Debbie Sells is the Ward Manager on the MBU at Nottingham and is aiming to cover 1,000 miles during 2021 by a combination of walking and running. She has worked on the ward for 24 years, and the 1,000 miles represents the long distance many families travel to receive specialist inpatient care. Debbie says that APP provides vital support for women and families who experience maternal mental illness. You can donate to Debbie’s challenge here.

We would also like to say a huge thank you to the #MilesForMumsAndBabies fundraisers who have completed their challenges. They include:

Anna Grisedale, who had PP in 2015 and 2018. She challenged herself to walk 119 miles, which represents the journey she made from Leeds to the MBU in Morpeth with her first born. Anna was initially admitted to Morpeth as no bed was available in Leeds MBU. After a few weeks, she was transferred back to Leeds, which enabled Anna’s family to visit her regularly. She says this was a lifeline to her and her family. During her illness she experienced the therapeutic benefits of walking. Watch this Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust film to find out more. Anna has raised more than £1,500 for her challenge via JustGiving. You can donate to her JustGiving page here.

Danielle Thomas, APP’s Assistant South Wales Coordinator, and her husky dog Lyra, walked 106 miles during June and July, which represents the distance from their house to the Melbury Lodge MBU in Winchester. Danielle experienced PP after the birth of her daughter in 2017, at which time there was no MBU in Wales. This meant she was a 2.5-hour journey away from family and friends during her stay at Winchester MBU. This April the new Uned Gobaith (Unit of Hope) MBU opened in Wales and Danielle was able to collaborate with its planners and artists through APP. Danielle and Lyra have raised £660 for APP. You can still donate to their JustGiving page here.

Naomi Gilbert, APP’s Assistant Peer Support Coordinator (pictured above, far right), took part in her first ever triathlon on 26th September. She chose a triathlon to highlight that during her recovery from PP she had to go to three separate psychiatric hospitals without her daughters, as there was no local Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) at the time. Naomi completed three challenges - swimming, cycling and running - in 1 hour 53 minutes and her younger daughter Ella helped her to run to the finish line. Naomi has raised more than £1,000 for APP via her Facebook fundraising page which you can still donate to here.

Emma Charlton who works at Beadnell MBU in Morpeth. Along with her colleague Katie, Emma walked 161 miles over a 12-week period to raise money for APP. Emma chose the distance to represent the 161 women admitted to the ward since she started working in Perinatal Services. Emma and Katie were accompanied by other colleagues on some of their longer walks and have raised £1150 for APP. You can donate to Emma’s challenge here.

You can read more about the #MilesForMumsAndBabies - and our other fundraisers - here. You can still sign up to our Miles for Mums and Babies Fundraiser and set yourself, or your team a challenge to complete.

Facebook Fundraisers: Each month, we welcome new Facebook fundraisers, many of whom have supported APP and raised awareness of postpartum psychosis by holding a birthday fundraiser. It has been lovely to celebrate your special day with you.

If you have any fundraising ideas or would like to get involved, contact fundraising@app-network for more information. We would love to support you.

Research update

APP supports all types of research into PP. If you are a researcher and would like us to support your research, please get in touch at an early stage in planning. If you have experience of PP and would like to help advise on research, or have a research background, please get in touch with Sally.

New Drug Discovery Study funded

The Wellcome Trust has funded a Postpartum Psychosis Drug Discovery study. This is fantastic news for women and families - and although studies like these take a long time to yield results – this study is likely to help us understand the biology of the illness and develop new targeted treatments for PP. A study launch was held on 27th September at Cardiff University where researchers on the project, the Wellcome Trust and APP met to present progress so far. This is an exciting area of work led by Professor John Atack, Director of the Medicines Discovery Institute at Cardiff University, which APP will be supporting over the next two years.

Clinical and Genetic studies

We work with researchers at Cardiff University to identify genes and other factors which are involved in increasing risk of PP or bipolar disorder - with the aim of understanding the causes of PP and developing better treatments. If you would like to help, email moodresearch@worc.ac.uk.

Dates for your diary

APP Hampshire and Sussex face to face café group meet up, Saturday 2nd October: APP Facebook events page.

National Grandparents Day, Sunday 3rd October. APP will be holding our first ever grandparents video call for grandparents to share experiences of supporting their daughter or son through an episode of PP. See full article above.

APP South Wales virtual café group meet up, Thursday 7th October: APP Facebook events page.

APP Birmingham/Solihull face to face café group meet up, Friday 8th October: APP Facebook events page.

Baby Loss Awareness Week, Saturday 9th – Friday 15th October. www.babyloss-awareness.org

World Mental Health Day, Sunday 10th October. www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/world-mental-health-day

APP Book Club, Monday 11th October. The Flight of Cornelia Blackwood by Susan Elliot Wright: APP Facebook events page.

APP Birmingham/Solihull virtual café group meet up, Thursday 14th October: APP Facebook events page.

APP London face to face café group meet up, Saturday 16th October: APP Facebook events page.

World Menopause Day, Monday 18th October. www.imsociety.org/education/world-menopause-day/

APP North East and Cumbria face to face café group meet up, Monday 18th October: APP Facebook events page.

APP Lancashire and South Cumbria virtual café group meet up, Thursday 21st October: APP Facebook events page.

Global Peer Support Celebration Day, Thursday 21st October. www.peersupportworks.org/about/global-peer-supporters-celebration-day

APP Lancashire and South Cumbria face to face café group meet up, Friday 22nd October: APP Facebook events page

APP South Wales virtual café group meet up, Thursday 11th November: APP Facebook events page.

APP Birmingham/Solihull virtual café group meet up, Thursday 11th November: APP Facebook events page.

APP Yorkshire face to face café group meet up, Saturday 13th November: APP Facebook events page.

Upcoming conferences and events

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Conference, Thursday 7th and Friday 8th October 2021.

Online conference featuring talks from a range of mental health professionals. Day one will focus on adult mental health; the focus of day two is youth mental health. Book tickets here.

APP workforce training for health professionals, Thursday 14th October 2021.

One-day online course on Managing Severe Mental Illness through pregnancy and working with women and families with postpartum psychosis. Book here.

Rebuilding the Future: Putting Babies and Children first conference, Thursday 14th October 2021.

Virtual conference featuring leading early years experts and academics presenting their latest research and understanding of how to tackle the effects of the pandemic and the next steps for babies and young children, families and communities. Book tickets here.

Perinatal Mental Health Services: Improving access and support, Thursday 21st October 2021.

Virtual conference focusing on improving perinatal mental health services as well as access and support during and beyond Covid-19. Book tickets here. Members of the APP network can book tickets at the reduced rate of £195+VAT with code: hcuk195app.

Westminster Health Forum policy conference, Thursday, 4th November 2021

Online half-day event focussing on: Women’s health - tackling the gender health gap, recovering from COVID-19, promoting women’s only health concerns. Book tickets here.

Maternity and Midwifery Festival: Scotland, Tuesday 23rd November.

In person event. Free for practising healthcare professionals and student midwives.

APP workforce training for health professionals, Monday 29th November 2021.