30th April 2021
Next week, 3-9 May, sees the UK Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week taking place.
Organised by Perinatal Mental Health Partnership (PMHP), the Awareness week is a weeklong campaign dedicated to talking about mental illness while pregnant or after having a baby.
The theme for this year’s Awareness Week is ‘Journeys to Recovery’. Over the last year, the ways in which services have changed to be delivered in alternative ways, due to COVID-19, has shown that the approach to recovery has been individual. So this Week is to highlight how to seek support for mums and families during this unusual time, alongside detailing the different ways in which recovery can take place.
The Week’s activities
Launch Day Photo: For the first time ever, PMHP is asking people if they would feel comfortable to share a photograph of what has helped or is helping their recovery.
- Many people will not want to show their face on social media and that is okay – your photo could be your journal notes, a craft you have made, some crotchet, a song, your medication, details of your therapy. You might even want to post of picture of your shoes or climbing boots to signify your journey to recovery. Whatever you feel.
- If you are a healthcare professional or support mums and families in the perinatal period and want to get involved, we would love to see photos of how you do this!
- You can post these photos on Monday 3 May, which is the first day of the campaign or post them at any point in the week, using the hashtag #myjourneytorecovery
- PMHP will collate the photos into a lovely series of collages of hope.
Themed days: Each day next week has a theme, and each has its own unique hashtag.
- Monday 3 May – The focus of the first day of the campaign is ‘What is Maternal Mental Health’?
- Hashtag for the day is #pmhpwhatismaternalmh
- Tuesday 4 May – The focus is on what good support looks like and the theme for the day will be ‘Reaching out for Support’.
- Support can be wide ranging from advice and help from healthcare professionals, medication, therapy, help from the voluntary sector and safe peer support.
- Charities, local peer support groups and services are encouraged to share their details on social media so families know what support is available across the UK. This could include details of the service, contact information, the areas they cover, information on safeguarding policies, training and supervision they have in place for staff and volunteers.
- Hashtag for the day will be #pmhpreachingoutforsupport
- Wednesday 5 May – This is World Maternal Mental Health Day, and also the day of the iHV PIMH Conference #iHVPIMH2021
- The theme for the day is the ‘Global Perinatal Positivity Pot’ focusing on how we work together to remove barriers to services so all families who need services can access them and share resources from across the world.
- Hashtag for the day is #pmhpglobalppp
- Thursday 6 May – The focus is on what support is available for friends and family of those who are experiencing maternal mental illness.
- Hashtag for the day will be #pmhplookingafteryouandyours
- Friday 7 May – The theme is ‘Your Journeys to Recovery’ – this will look at recovery and how it can look different for each person but with the message that it can and does happen.
- You are encouraged to the share articles, blogs and vlogs about recovery, looking ahead to the future and self-care.
- Hashtag for the day is #pmhpyourjourneystorecovery
- Saturday 8 May – The focus is Paternal Mental Health
- Hashtag for the day will be #pmhppaternalmh
- Sunday 9 May – PMHP will be posting highlights from the week.
Use the #journeystorecovery #maternalmhmatters hashtag on social media when referring to the week and the daily specific hashtags if relating to the daily theme.
