Demand for mums’ mental health NHS text support up 60%

Mum’s Mind, a text message mental health support service for new and expectant mums, has seen demand rise by around 60% over the last month.

The service offers advice and information to support mothers Leicestershire who struggle with mental health issues during pregnancy and baby’s first year.

In April the Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust service saw text requests rise from an average of around 50 a month to 84.

The team providing the service – LPT’s specialist perinatal mental health team – say that a significant number of texts relate to expectant and new mums experiencing anxiety in the weeks after lockdown was implemented.

In Maternal Health Awareness Week, perinatal mental health team leader, Donna Stafford, is reassuring families that support is available.

She said: “Mums Mind continues to provide essential support for women across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. We have seen an increased demand for the service since COVID-19 restrictions were put in place and we have been able to provide mental health support and advice to women and their families.

“As we would expect, there has been an increase in reported  anxiety  symptoms and emotional distress in response to the impact of COVID-19.We will continue to ensure that this text messaging service remains available.”

Developed with service users and launched in June 2019, the confidential NHS support line was thought to be the first dedicated NHSperinatal mental health text messaging support service.