Pregnancy, Family and Mental Health: Resources and Support

Your pregnancy and parenthood will be a journey, whether you’re looking forward to having your first baby or it’s something you’ve experienced before. This guide aims to help you with your emotional well-being and mental health from pregnancy through to parenthood and to let you know about the different supports that are available to you, should you need them. The guide is also for your partner and their mental health.
Your journey is also about you and your baby and there is a section about finding your way with your baby and the supports that are available to you both, should you need them.

Your guide to Emotional Wellbeing in Pregnancy and Parenthood. Having a baby is a big and life changing event. It’s natural for you and your partner to feel and experience a whole range of emotions during pregnancy and after birth. Learning to tune into your changing emotional state can be a helpful way to keep a check of your emotional wellbeing and to recognise when you may need some extra advice or support. Read more
Getting to know your baby. The early relationship you, your partner and family have with your baby is vitally important. How you meet their needs, respond to them, love and care for them, shapes how their brain develops and also helps them learn about their feelings and how to be with others. This is as true before they’re born as when they arrive. Read more
Developing confidence as a parent. There is so much new stuff to learn when you are preparing for or have become a parent. It is okay not to know and it is okay to ask for help. Learning a lot of new stuff alongside getting to know a new person can be a lot to ask for anyone and on top of that our baby is also getting to know a lot of new stuff and getting to know us… so it’s not surprising that for all of us there will be times when things can feel like they are too much. Read more
Taking care of your relationships with others. If you have a partner talking with them about how you feel about becoming a parent can help you both get to know about each other’s hopes, fears, and expectations. It can get you off to a good start if you can think together about your ideas of how you want to care for your baby. Read more
Mental health and support. In this section, we discuss the mental health problems that can occur in the perinatal period and in the next section we describe what support is available at this important time for you and your family. Read more
Resources and support. In this section, we describe the range of help on offer, from support groups to helpful websites to more specialist support. Read more