Is there a way to get more help from perinatal mental health?

[PregnantAndStruggling33]

My last baby was stillborn. I’m now pregnant again and cried literally all through my booking appointment which was at 7 weeks. Just being back in a hospital triggered so much emotion.

The midwife offered to refer me to perinatal mental health and 10 weeks later I had a 30 minute assessment by phone. The assessor went through questionnaires with me on depression, anxiety and trauma. I got pretty much the highest possible scores on all of them, although I don’t have any suicidal thoughts or intention of self-harm.

She said my case would be discussed with the team and she would get back to me shortly. It was apparently decided that I was most suitable for ‘long-term support’ and have been referred to a service in local area for this (because of my history, my obstetric care is at a teaching hospital further away). I’ve been told they ‘should be able to see (me) before the birth.’

This feels like disappointingly little disappointingly late under the circumstances. I was hoping for a bit more if I’m honest. What have others experiences been? I’m sure I’ve read some very positive experiences of support on here and am wondering how it’s accessed?

I'm sorry for your loss and your experience so far. I'm not speaking from lived experience, more work experience.

I'm wondering where they've referred to? Your local NHS talking therapies service should have PTSD support / support you at higher intensity level for this. Most places have a "quick access service" for people who are perinatal. The support is short term in the grand scheme of things (8-10 weeks of support) but potentially helpful to get you through. Can you look into this? You can self refer, have your midwife refer or usually book an appointment online.

Perinatal MH teams can support with birth anxiety and birth trauma but not necessarily complex bereavement and PTSD - in my NHS Trust anyway. For anything other than birth anxiety and birth trauma they usually refer to NHS talking therapies.

MH support especially for things like this is inadequate. I hope you get the support you need.

Mine was shocking. I was referred twice, neither time could they offer anything more than a 20 minute zoom call. They talked about “possible support” and “team meetings” and me being a “priority case”, but had nothing else to refer me to.

They did contact me 6 months after the birth to see how I was - they were unable to talk to me about resulting birth trauma. They contacted me four months or so after that, to offer me a trial place on a scheme where they film women with their babies and edit it into a little montage for you. I’m not quite sure why. I don’t go through with it; anyway.

Have you been allocated a specialist midwife? That would probably be the best avenue for support, I’d think.

@IVFKinster Thank you. That is helpful to know. I’d naively assumed they could help with PTSD (which I’m thinking I probably have). I think the service you mention must be what I’ve been referred to. I wish I’d asked more questions now.

@YouveGotAFastCar Sorry to hear you haven’t had a good experience of this either. I have been allocated a specialist midwife but am not due to see her until 24 weeks (I’m 19 weeks at the moment).

It's okay to call them again and ask for more information like the name of the service you've been referred to and what it involves 🙂
It's also okay to look up your local NHS talking service number and ask them directly if they've received a referral for you and if not you can refer yourself there and then on the phone.
I'd be annoyed at the perinatal MH team calling the NHS talking therapies a long term service as it absolutely isn't. But I'd encourage you to find out, one less thing to have weighing on your mind.

I think it’s a PIP (parent infant partnership service) I’ve been referred to, which is to help parents bond with their babies once they’re born. This makes me a bit cross because I mentioned that I wasn’t feeling very connected to this pregnancy or daring to to believe it would result in a take-home baby this time, yet that was only a tiny part of what was covered.

I’ve just discovered that my area does have a specific ‘Perinatal Loss & Trauma Care’ service. No idea what you have to do to access it though.

It makes sense that you're struggling to connect with this pregnancy when you've experienced previous loss. You might still benefit from some support in bonding if needed when your baby is here? It doesn't sound very helpful here and now though.

It's great that your area has that service! Can you get in touch with your GP and ask if they're able to refer? If not your specialist midwife should be able to but that's still a while away for you.

Completely different circumstances but in my last pregnancy I was referred to the perinatal mental health midwife about mid way through the pregnancy if I remember correctly. I was given an appointment for about 2 months after my baby was due to be born! Needless to say I was devastated and not well supported. I managed to get this changed to a short telephone consultation about a month before my due date. Wasn't helpful tbh.

But my situation was completely different to yours and no history of loss and in the end I didn't end up anywhere near as unwell postnatally as I was expecting based on my experience with DC1 so I coped.

Ask them to be referred there. Ask to be seen sooner.

There is massive strain on mental health services at the moment, each Trust will work a bit differently but (so) if you don't ask you definitely won't get.

I'm so sorry for your loss and wish you all the best with this pregnancy.