Pregnancy and after birth can be a lonely and isolating place for parents particularly in times of hardship and uncertainty, with difficulty pregnancy, births, moving into lack of security with the high costs of living, with low income. We know that maternal mental health does not discriminate, regardless of if you are on a low income, or aristocratic, maternal mental health can be debilitating to parents who were not expecting to feel so low, anxious, depressed or experience maternal rage and or frightening thoughts.
‘This is such an integral service for parents and carers. I came up against barriers which left me so disillusioned after building up the courage to contact NHS services. Thank goodness for Pandas, I’ve recommended to two mums already’
‘I wish I had known about PANDAS Foundation’ is a common thread we hear through the 10K parents we support year on year. Our trustees, Managers, volunteers and partners all have lived, work or academic experience and truly understand the darkness that many parents go through from trying to conceive, through to the years beyond giving birth.
We know that 1 in 7 parents will experience some form of poor maternal mental health throughout the conception to after giving birth period, and whilst the stigma is reducing, so is the NHS funding for the parents that need crucial early intervention.
Parents tell us that ‘I don’t feel like ME anymore, I am ‘just Mum’, or from fathers, ‘I faded into the background making cups of tea whilst many of our family took selfies with our brand-new baby, leaving me feeling invisible, as a father’.
PANDAS Foundation was set up as one woman found that she did not fit the mould of the traditional mother and baby group. PANDAS was created to offer support in accessible ways for every parent, carer or network who may be struggling throughout the maternal period, with no cut off point. Including our wonderful face to face support groups for parents who need to be heard and seen. Opening many opportunities to visit a space, be held safely emotionally and to talk or just listen to many other parents who are going through similar journeys.
Our peer support is supervised with a huge spectrum of training for our biggest asset, our wonderful volunteers who manage their support roles with empathy, signposting, active listening and often, another job and children in the background.
We are all here in PANDAS for one mission, to ensure that no person feels alone through the parental journey. This is why we are doing everything we can to expand our services, strengthen our resource, fuel our training offer. This year we have opened 10 new face to face support groups, with ongoing plans to repeat this role out of these vital new openings s into a local community near you year on year.
Via accessible free with no waiting list, support services. Including our Callback service, WhatsApp text service, email service, face to face group support, closed group community forums via our two Facebook channels. And of course, our non-triggering and inspiring social media pages, a medium which many parents have connected with, felt safe scrolling through without comparison, judgment and just feeling ‘seen’.
We hope that the ‘I wish I had known about PANDAS transforms for many parents reading this, to ‘ I knew about PANDAS, and they helped me experience joy through my journey as a new or expectant parent.’
Blog by Annie Belasco – PANDAS Foundation
