A free course to support Manchester mums experiencing mental health challenges such as worrying thoughts, anxiety and postnatal depression begins this month.
The course, which will run for eight weeks, is run by the charity Mind, the Manchester branch of which is now funded to offer the programme city-wide for mums living in Manchester with a child under the age of two.
It has taken the ideas and suggestions of 30 women with lived experience of perinatal mental health issues to create a course which aims to support mums’ mental health by learning various tools and forging connections with one another.
Charli Headley, the course coordinator, said: “We are really lucky in Manchester, as there are lots of wonderful services that support children and families.
“Mums Matter is slightly different as the focus isn’t on family relationships or parenting skills and it’s not a parenting course.”
The course aims to help the groups it works with to strengthen their own connections and offers two unstructured sessions to arrange this, as well as a separate session designed for friends and family to learn how they can continue to help.
Headley said: “The course is really beneficial for all new mums as at Mums Matter we always say you can’t pour from an empty cup.
“Having strategies to support your mental health, like the ones we share on the course, can help make sure mums don’t end up at the bottom of their never-ending washing pile.”
According to a study from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, 28% of pregnant or post-natal women surveyed believed there was a stigma attached to mental health and a further 28% felt embarrassed about their mental health problems.
For Headley, reducing these numbers is a priority, and the Mums Matter courses are part of her quest to do so.
The two next courses start at Whalley Range and Woodhouse Park on the 18th and 20th of April, and there will be more courses starting in September which will take place in North Manchester and elsewhere in central Manchester.
More information can be found by emailing [email protected] or mums can refer themselves at https://www.manchestermind.org/our-services/training-learning/community-training/mumsmatter/.
