After many years of hard work and dedication, Northern Ireland now has Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Community Teams and is on track to also deliver a much needed Mother & Baby Unit.
To say this news is long awaited is an understatement. The campaign to bring Specialist Perinatal Mental Health services to Northern Ireland has been ongoing for the last 25 years.
I joined it in 2015, as a Mum who experienced severe perinatal mental illness. I became ill during pregnancy with antenatal depression and anxiety which followed me into the postnatal period. It remained undiagnosed and untreated for two years. Every day for those two years, I did battle with it. Many days I almost did not win. I became a shell of a person, unrecognisable to myself and others — I couldn’t eat, sleep, function day to day and at my very worst could not be left alone because I was convinced my life was no longer worth living. The depths of despair mental illness took me to, are places I never want to visit again. I am thankful to have made it out alive.
When I realised what had happened to me and why, I was determined to play my part to make sure other mums would have access to the support I desperately needed. Part of the reason my story played out like it did was the lack of Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Services across NI. There was nowhere dedicated to help and support Mums like me. There was no funding to allow Health Care Professionals to do that vital work. There was also a generally lack of awareness across all of society about perinatal mental illness – how it presents, why it matters and how to help. The old “oh sure it’s just the Baby Blues” was very much alive and kicking.
And that meant Mums were falling though the massive cracks and some were losing their lives. We have lost people from our Perinatal Mental Health community over these last 10 years, it’s been utterly heartbreaking and incredibly frustrating when we know the difference services and support can make.
As I began to recover, I established an organisation called “Have you seen that girl?” which hundreds of Mums, from all across NI, joined and supported. We shared our stories privately, with each other, and publicly, in the media. It became a movement dedicated to raising awareness of maternal mental health, supporting mums and families, and advocating/campaigning for better services and support.
As I began to widely publicly about my experience and after giving a Ted Talk entitled “What if Motherhood isn’t the time of your life?” at Stormont, I joined a wonderful team of people who know how vital these services are. Alongside the Maternal Mental Health Alliance, we set about raising the profile of the campaign: united in our dedication and determination to bring change.
Via Have you seen that girl? we also spent time fundraising. The first thing we created was a leaflet. I told part of my story on it, we highlighted important signs/symptoms, and we directed people to where (locally) help and support was available. We printed 200 in the first batch, in the end 20K went out all over NI. We then created Bags of Hope & Parcels of Hope to send to mums who were struggling and needed to know they we not alone.
We ran events and conferences, gathering together as many people as we could who were working with Mum and families to share experiences, ideas and create solutions to the gaps we all knew existed. We worked alongside the Public Health Agency, The Royal Colleges, Department of Health and the Maternal Mental Health Alliance to deliver training, speak at workshops and develop a campaign that could not be ignored.
We lobbied Stormont and Westminster on countless occasions. Banging on doors, banging our drums and gathering promises to bring change.
Over the years, the work has been vast and varied. So many people have played a part. From talking to the media and sharing stories; organising events and peer support; fundraising and raising awareness; training events; conferences; workshops and working groups; campaign action days; and countless trips up and down the hill to Stormont to meet with local MLAs and Decision Makers. Not a stone was left unturned!
A key turning point in the campaign came with a Consensus Statement, which we asked all Political Parties to sign in 2019. In doing so, they pledged to support both the implementation of Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Teams, across each of the five Health Trusts, and also a Mother and Baby Unit in Northern Ireland. This collective agreement was key, I believe, to the action that was to come.
In 2021, Health Minister Robin Swann, announced the first stage of this — funding for the Specialist Community Teams — which are set up and available across NI. I’ve heard many stories, over the years, about the difference they make in the lives of women and families. That now means that each Trust as a multidisciplinary team of HCPS who can treat and support mums, in the community, in their home, who are in PMH crisis.
That was the first piece of the promise. The other was finally announced 30th April, 2026 by Health Minister Mike Nesbitt — funding for a Mother & Baby unit and a site where it can be built, at Belfast City Hospital. That can now begin, with a design team to be appointed immediately, and not a moment too soon. The MBU will mean mums not have to be separated from their new babies in order to receive in patient mental health care. They will be treated and supported in a family friendly, home from home, environment allowing them to heal and recover.
It was the privilege of my life, for the last eleven years, to play my part in the work to secure Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Services and Mother and Baby Unity for Northern Ireland. I am delighted to know that other mums, and their families, will have access to the services they need and deserve.
On Friday 2nd October 2026, we joined together for ‘Celebrating #SpecialistPerinatalNI’.
It was night to remember – you can read more about that here:
