When a pregnant or new mother presents to your service, very often she will not speak to you about her depression or anxiety. It takes a long time for a woman to have the courage to talk to anyone about the symptoms she is experiencing, and by the time she does, she has often had them for a long time. Midwives would need to be pro-active in picking up signs of depression/anxiety, but this doesn’t have to be time-consuming.
What are the benefits as a Midwife to becoming a referring partner with Mothers Helpers?
- Mothers Helpers provides the only recovery course for women with mild-moderate Perinatal Depression/Anxiety in the community
- Recovery rates are 65% at course completion and an average of 51% improvement in Edinburgh scores
- Courses are facilitated by qualified counsellors and social workers
- Women with a Community Services Card can apply for WINZ funding for the course with a depression diagnosis through a Disability Allowance
- Becoming a Referring Partner of Mothers Helpers’ is free
Benefits for you:
- It saves you time: you can screen expecting and new mothers using the Antenatal Risk Questionnaire and the Edinburgh scale. Both of these are filled out by the mother within a few minutes and Mothers Helpers makes it easy for you by providing an online Edinburgh scale which you can hand over to your client to fill in using your phone or tablet. It will automatically add up scores.
- Many midwives have said that they avoid screening because they feel their client won’t fit Maternal Mental Health criteria or they are not confident of the client’s GP to manage depression/anxiety. Mothers Helpers provides a thorough and successful recovery service and we work alongside GP’s, Maternal Mental Health and the crisis team whenever it’s required.
- Our assessments are carried out by trained social workers and counsellors and supervised by a registered nurse in addition to a registered counsellor/social worker
- Any midwife who has joined our Referral Partnership Programme would be eligible for a nomination for Mothers Helpers’ Best Practice Award, acknowledged as a partner and recommended by us to expectant mothers
Benefits for women:
- When a woman is picked up early for depression/anxiety, she recovers more quickly. This significantly reduces the risk of her developing more severe depression/anxiety, chronic depression and reduces her suicide risk
Benefits for families:
- Early intervention can reduce the impact depression/anxiety has on families
- Without early intervention, an unborn child is at-risk of emotional, cognitive and physical development issues including mental illness. The baby of a woman with postnatal depression can experience insecure attachment that increases their risk of developing learning difficulties, mental illness, addiction, delinquency, trouble with the law and suicide
- Partners are at-risk of developing partner-depression and there is the risk of relationship breakdown/divorce. Early intervention can help prevent this
What does becoming a Referring Partner of Mothers Helpers involve?
- Free workshops provided by Mothers Helpers (training on AND, PND and screening)
- Agreement to universal screening (EPDS and ANRQ) of all women antenatally & postnatally and referral to Mothers Helpers if consented by mother if they fit our criteria
Interested? Contact us Now
