Mums in Mind: Children 1st Moray
Children 1st Moray tell us about Mums in Mind, a project which promotes parental and infant mental wellbeing.
For us at Children 1st Moray, perinatal peer support is about sharing experiences which then helps to reduce stigma. Mums in Mind creates safe spaces for peer relationships to develop.
The kind of things we explore in our sessions are identity, the changing sense of self both physically and emotionally, promoting attachment and bonding. We think it is important to create supportive spaces where it is ok for those attending to feel and show their vulnerabilities. We want to encourage parents to trust in themselves and their instincts when connecting with their baby.
Networks of support
Another important part of the work is linking with other community-based organisations to build networks of support. In the process of developing our work we have learnt that preparation is so important to the success of the activity. We spend time building links with health services and local agencies. It’s important to address worries and think about the concerns people might have living in a small community. Building relationships beforehand can help ease some of these anxieties and then we are then able to identify barriers and look at how to overcome them. Sometimes these are around childcare or transport.
A nurturing space
We want to provide a nurturing space. We make sure that the space feels welcoming and homely. Even the detail of the soft furnishings is important to us. We provide food and hot drinks. We don’t want parents to worry about their babies and how they are in the space. Babies will be babies and all of it is ok. We always want to keep people in mind. One way we do this is to ask people attending if they were a cake, what cake would they be, then bring those cakes along to last session! We also send a text or call before the group. For those mums, they feel someone cares if they come along or not. There is a real magic in the groupwork approach and the connections that come from it.
We have found that offering onsite childcare for older babies/toddlers can be beneficial. For younger babies we have found benefit to them being in the group. It helps promote connection and play through baby baskets, stories etc. This is also an opportunity to give positive feedback on mother baby interactions and babies development.
Impact
Through the connections with others with similar experiences those attending feel like what they are going through is shared and they are not alone. We also noticed that the babies became more settled as time went on and parents were more attuned to their babies. As a service, we have learned more about perinatal mental health and what it looks like for parents in Moray.
I have absolutely loved coming to the group. It really has been so helpful with being a first-time mum and showing me that I really am not alone in finding that it can be very challenging at times. It has been so nice to relate to others and just be reassured that everything I feel is very common!’
Mums in Mind participant
- For more information contact Children 1st Moray
Free toolkit
This is one of many projects who shared their learning in the free to download Let’s do Peer Support: . Here’s a short animation to tell you more.
