Parent-infant focused NHS Talking Therapies (psychological therapy services)

Easy access to psychological therapies for parents is available through the parent infant mental health IAPT Babies Can’t Wait agreement. This means that expectant mothers and their partners and parent with an infant under the age of 2 are fast tracked into therapy.

Each area of Greater Manchester has its own NHS Talking Therapies service. The types of talking therapy offered by your local NHS Talking Therapies team will usually include guided self help and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Some teams also offer interpersonal therapy (IPT), counselling , mindfulness based cognitive therapy and EMDR ( a trauma focused therapy). Find out more about these therapies

Each local service offers a range of web based and telephone treatment with some services also offering individual and group therapy.  All the therapies offered by NHS Talking Therapies are researched to be effective in treating common mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, OCD, phobias and PTSD.

Each local team have perinatal champions who have received additional training in perinatal parent infant mental health.  These champions can support their team in approaching your care with the perinatal frame of mind. This means that your therapist will try to consider your needs, your babies needs and your relationship with your baby when working with you .

Across Greater Manchester all NHS Talking Therapy services prioritise parents during the antenatal and postnatal period up until the infant is 2 years old.  Greater Manchester NHS Talking Therapy services are keen to work alongside colleagues in other teams such as midwifery, health visiting, social care and parent infant services in order to offer a package of sensitive accessible care to parents and their infants.

Some NHS Talking Therapy services offer specialist perinatal group wellbeing and therapy programmes.

Mental health problems during the perinatal period can affect any parent or primary care giver; commonly experienced mental health problems during the perinatal period include depression, anxiety, OCD, phobias including a phobia of childbirth, birth trauma and PTSD. NHS Talking Therapy services are here to help you so that you and your baby can get off to the best start.

Self-referral services

Referral through your GP