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In the United Kingdom, Black women, followed by White and Black Caribbean and White and Black African women, are more likely to experience a mental illness such as anxiety disorder or depression. There are several reasons why the mental wellbeing and the development of infants are disproportionately poor, and this lies in societal structures and systemic discriminations that lead to socio-economic disadvantage, barriers to appropriate and timely services, benchmarking to majority populations, cultural practices, lack of trust and many more multi-factorial causes.
Despite the data on poor outcomes available nationally, an exploratory study which heard from perinatal infant mental health providers and Black women across Greater Manchester found that there were gaps in service provision. The services in Greater Manchester were not catering for the needs of Black women and their infants, and it was important to work in partnership with providers to respond to this gap
This initiative responds to a report undertaken in 2022/2023 that highlights work that needs to be done to enable improved perinatal mental health experiences for mums and their babies in Greater Manchester.
Overall, we aim to support the development and optimisation of Black women and their infant’s health and well-being during the first two years of birth and beyond if required.
Over the next 12 months we aim to implement interventions geared towards improving perinatal and infant mental healthcare. Collectively with provider services (including specialist community perinatal mental health teams, GPs and maternal medicine network partners) we are co-producing ways to address the poor experiences and outcomes of Black mothers and their infants when they journey through the perinatal period including pre-conception.
We are working with Greater Manchester Mental Health and parent and Infant providers to identify ways to work together to coproduce and support solutions to improve engagement and enable better access.
Read the report on the Black mum’s experience of perinatal and infant mental health and the Greater Manchester services here
For further information contact
Scholastic Dube: email: Schola@cahn.org.uk or telephone: 07748675814
On the 7th of June, CAHN launched its Greater Manchester Perinatal Infant health initiative and showcased some of the activities being developed to support women, and their families during the perinatal phase.
Part of the cultural services being developed is a safe hub space where people can drop in every other Saturday at 10:00 – 1pm or each Monday in Gorton 10:00 – 12:30 to engage with activities to improve their wellbeing.
Every other Saturday there will be opportunities for people from across Greater Manchester to bring their families or come alone and get socialising with other in a culturally rich environment. We aim to promote positive perinatal and Infant well-being throughout each session whether this be through educational activities, cooking socialising gardening and more. During each session we will have access to health professionals who will be able to offer health care support and screening if appropriate.
Each session will bring different ways for people to engage with CAHN staff, providers from across health and care settings.
We have created a safe and positive space for those who identify as Black and are trying to become pregnant, pregnant people or those who have had babies and want to be in an environment where they can share ideas and resources, experiences, encourage and learn from each other and build resilience through their connections and networks.
To find out more and how you can join please contact
Scholastic Dube:
email: scholastic@cahn.org.uk or telephone: M: 07748675814