Welcome to our partnership project page for a new perinatal mental health project being undertaken by Acacia and BLMK, funded by Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) and East London Foundation Trust (ELFT).

This is a one year project and it is made up of three specific focus areas.

Young Parents' Perinatal Mental Health Support Service
Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Engagement Project
Dads'/Partners Engagement Project

Please see below for details of each project and criteria for accessing resources and support.

Young Parents' Perinatal Mental Health Support Project

This project has unfortunately come to a close. The service is no longer available.

The project provided virtual/telephone support for young parents affected by perinatal mental health issues, in particular pre and postnatal depression and/or anxiety. It was an early intervention and is aimed at those young parents under 25 years living in Bedfordshire, Luton and/or Milton Keynes who were experiencing mild to moderate symptoms.

The service wass delivered remotely from Birmingham by Acacia, a prerinatal mental health charity with almost 20 years experience of supporting struggling mums and dads.

Please click on the link below for a list of other available services in the region

General Resources for PMH Young Parents

Dads'/Partners' Perinatal Mental Health Project

This project commenced in April 2021 and the aim is to raise awareness of paternal/non birth parents' mental health problems in the perinatal period through a variety of media including information/advice printed booklets and online self-help resources and advice. Please click on the link below to view/download the dads'/partners' resource.

The project incorporated the development, production and delivery of 13,000 dads'/partners' resource booklets for the region. This represents a year's birth cohort. The project also focussed on the development of an online portal providing comprehensive access to existing local and national statutory and VCS resources and service provision, peer video, self-help resources and information/links to further local and nationally available free support.

In the interests of inclusivity and to reduce barriers further we have developed both a dads' portal and an LGBTQ+ portal.

Click here to visit the partners' web portal

Click on the link below to download the partners perinatal mental health survival guide.

Partners Survival Guide

Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Awareness Raising and Training Project

The normalisation of perinatal mental health problems amongst people of colour and other ethnic communities is a vital step in encouraging communities to recognise and understand these illnesses and to seek help when needed. This project included the development of perinatal mental health short stories/promotional films in various languages and featuring mums from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. The primary purpose of these films is to be shared through social media and other web based distribution channels to aid in awareness raising and normalising perinatal mental illness in diverse communities.

You can access the videos below. If you'd like these video files to be sent to you for distribution elsewhere please click here to open the Acacia 'contact us' form.