Launch of the new Perinatal Mental Health Service in Kirklees

We have recently launched a new perinatal mental health service which provides specialist care for pregnant women and new mothers. The service has been co-developed with local maternity services and CCGs and will be accessible to everyone in Kirklees.

The new service will be officially launched in Kirklees on Monday 13 November, 11am-12.30pm in the Al Hikmah Centre in Batley. This will be an opportunity to meet the team and find out about how the service aims to improve the wellbeing and health of pregnant women and new mothers in the Kirklees area.

Claire Lowe, Perinatal mental health team leader said: “Pregnancy and childbirth is a uniquely vulnerable time for women where there is a substantially increased risk of developing an episode of mental illness – the most likely time in a woman’s life. This new service will help to raise the awareness of perinatal illness within mental health services and improve access for women to appropriate specialist interventions from specially trained staff.”

Our new perinatal mental health service will work closely with midwives and health visitors to provide specialist and tailored care to pregnant women, new mothers and their families in Barnsley, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield. Similar launch events will be held in West and South Yorkshire in the coming months, including one in Huddersfield on 16 January. We will also be carrying out specific engagement activities with women and families in Kirklees who are from the black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.

The events are tailored towards partners, stakeholders and anyone with an interest in perinatal mental health.

For more information or to book a place contact Donna Davies on 01924 316009 or email donna.davies@swyt.nhs.uk.