New mental health pilot for young mums announced

Ways to Wellness is to co-deliver a project to support young mums in the North East region with their mental health.

We have joined forces with the Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA) and Sunderland Counselling Service to trial an intervention in which a specialist social prescribing link worker will offer both emotional and practical care to some of the women and girls in our communities most at risk of pre and postnatal mental health issues.

Mothers aged between 16 and 25 have been identified as being at particularly high risk, with postnatal depression up to twice as prevalent in teenage mums compared to those over the age of 20, and a 2023 report by MBRRACE-UK, a collaboration between maternity care agencies and support services, highlighting an alarming increase in maternal suicide in teenagers.

Our role

Throughout the pilot, we will work iteratively with its funder the Pilgrim Trust, gathering and sharing insights and case studies from the work to help refine the service offer, and share learning across the wider maternal health community.

The link worker, which will be hosted by Sunderland Counselling Service, will deliver a responsive offer over three years, both in the community, and via WhatsApp and text to meet the needs of the women participating in the £95,400 project.

If successful, the model could be scaled across integrated care, both regionally and further afield, with the MMHA leveraging its extensive network of members, made up of experts by experience, academics and clinicians, to disseminate the learning and inform policy.

Our Head of Implementation Ang Broadbridge, who for the last three years led on our wider maternal mental health service prototype, winner of the most recent Women’s Health Innovation Award from Bright Ideas in Health, said:

“This is a fantastic next step in our work in maternal mental health, which has so far provided robust data to highlight gaps in service for new and expectant mothers, and evidenced the value of social prescribing in terms of accessibility, with benefits for the wider health and care system too

“Our prototype identified the unique support needs of younger mothers, and we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to explore this further. We’re proud to partner with both the Maternal Mental Health Alliance and Sunderland Counselling Service to support more young families who might otherwise face barriers to accessing support.”

Sonja Forbes, Grants Manager at Pilgrim Trust added:

“Pilgrim Trust is delighted to support this project, which will target the specific needs of young mothers. Research shows this group often faces additional barriers to accessing support, such as negative stereotypes, unconscious bias and discrimination due to their age. The Young Mums Link Worker will be an integral part of addressing the wider emotional and practical factors that contribute to good maternal mental health.”

To find out more about how we work with our partners to test and scale healthcare solutions, visit waystowellness.org.uk/projects, or if there’s an idea you might like to prototype, contact us to arrange a discussion on 0191 816 3540 or at info@waystowellness.org.uk