Mental Health Assessment in Pregnancy

[kellyannlondon]

I'm posting on behalf of SIL who is 30 weeks pregnant.

Had MIL on the phone last night in floods of tears as social worker has been on the phone.

The background is that SIL had very difficult teenage years. Suffered from Anorexia, mild eplilepsy (not fits just episodes where she 'spaces out' and has not had one for 10 years) and had depression (a lot caused by undiagnosed dyslexia which meant she had a really tough time at school)

She is now much, much better. She has a job she loves working with children with SN, has been in a stable relationship for 12 years and is now pregnant which she is thrilled about. When she filled in all her booking forms at the maternity unit, she mentioned her past illnesses. They have now asked to her to come for a mental health assessment. So far, it seems she has just ignored the letters as was a bit fearful of what it involves. Now social services have been on the phone saying if you don't have this assessment, social services will get involved when the baby's born.

Hence the call from my MIL last night as SIL has been crying for days thinking that they're going to take her baby away

Even MIL who is normally quite sensible was crying to me and saying that they could force her to leave the baby at the hospital which seems farcical for refusing an assessment. Myself and DH talked to SIL and tried to calm her down. We've told her to contact them to make an app and we'll go with her (She's not very confident and gets very flustered when talking with strangers and would forget to ask the right questions) I think at the moment, the worst of it is the unknown as no one has explained to her exactly what this assessment is.

I have no experience or knowledge of mental health services so wondered if anyone knew a bit about this assessment - what it involves (questionnaire or interview) what the outcome from the assessment is and what are the consequences if she refuses the assessment.

I am just so sad for her as this is supposed to be such a happy time and now she is spending the last few weeks of her pregnancy worried sick they're going to take her baby away when she's done nothing wrong

Hi kellyann, sorry I don't have any advice for you, but didn't want to let your post go unanswered. I assume that the meeting is just to try to provide your sil with extra help and support she might need. The social services' involvement seems very heavy-handed to me so not sure what that is about. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will come along to advise you...

The referral will have been made as a result of your sisters past history. Because of that she will be seen, statistically, of being at higher risk of mental ill health in pregnancy and postnatally.
The appointment will usually last around an hour and will ask about her past history, her current situation, and whether she is experiencing any symptoms of mental illness at present. Questionaires may be used as a screening tool, or way of judging severity of illness (if there is one)
The purpose of these assessments is to see if any additional monitoring/input or medication should be offered in order to help your SIL stay well.
I very much doubt that getting social services involved would have been on anyones mind at the time that the referral was made, but as she has not responded to the letters send that has probably raised peoples anxieties about the situation - obviously you feel that your sister is fine, and just ignoring the letters, but the mental health service dont know that your SIL isnt terribly ill, because all they know is that soemone hasnt responded to the letters.

I would guess that they're all more concerned with her ignoring the letters than her mental health per se... and that they're beginning to suspect she's hiding something.

My advice would be for her simply to get an assessment done and allay all their fears.

Poor SIL. This must be making everything so much worse for her.

Thanks everyone for your replies. You've hit the nail on the head really in that had she replied social services wouldn't have got involved.

Since I've posted, MIL has called the Social Worker who was really nice and is coming over next week for a chat. She's also got the app with the Mental Health team on Monday which myself and MIL are going to give SIL support. Hopefully she'll realise that they're there to support her and like you say, there's nothing sinister involved.

Maybe now she can enjoy these last few weeks.