This page contains resources to help you support mothers with their mental health in the perinatal period and beyond. Maternal mental health difficulties are common, affecting 1 in 4 women, with suicide remaining the leading cause of direct deaths in the year after childbirth. Around 70% of women hide or underplay their symptoms due to stigma and fear of child removal. Left untreated, they can affect the whole family, impacting not only mothers themselves, but fathers, co-parents, partners, babies, and children. Timely identification and the right support are essential for family health and wellbeing. Investing in maternal perinatal mental health is not just good for families, it also makes sound economic sense. Health visitors have a clear mandate for perinatal and infant mental health as a core part of their role, underpinned by strong evidence of the clinical and cost effectiveness of health visitor led provision. This includes early identification of concerns through their universal reach to all families, the delivery of evidence-based clinical interventions, and by working collaboratively to connect families to appropriate services.
iHV Resources
📃 Good Practice Points and Parent Tips
Developed in collaboration with topic experts, health visitors, and other professionals, our resources draw on the latest available evidence at the time of publication. Each resource is produced through a robust quality assurance process and peer reviewed to ensure accuracy, relevance, and strong alignment with health visiting practice.
Understanding mothers’ mental health & wellbeing during the transition to parenthood
Good Practice Point
Understanding mental health and wellbeing during the transition to parenthood: LGBTQI+ parents
Good Practice Point
Understanding your mental health and emotional wellbeing during pregnancy and after the birth of your baby (mothers)
Parent Tip
🔎 Factographics
🎙️ Podcasts:
Listen to engaging conversations and insights from specialists and practitioners across the health visiting landscape.
Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programmes
🏷️ Cost: From £210
🕒 Duration: 1 or 2 Days
👥 Suitable for: Health Visitors (inc. Specialist Health Visitors), Skill Mix and Multi-agency
Spotlight learn: Supporting the perinatal mental health of autistic mothers and birthing parents?
🏷️ Cost: On enquiry
🕒 Duration: 2.5 Hours
👥 Suitable for: Health Visitors, Skill Mix and Multi-agency
Emotional Wellbeing Visits Programmes
🏷️ Cost: From £550
🕒 Duration: 2 Days
👥 Suitable for: Health Visitors (inc. Specialist Health Visitors) and selected professionals
📖 Publications
Parental mental health and the workplace:
A series of 3 articles – resources for employers that help them better support maternity and paternity leave and parents’ return to work:
🔗 Workplace factors that enhance or compromise parental mental health during pregnancy and the first postnatal year. A scoping review - Read here
🔗 How do employers respond to the needs of expectant and new parents who may be experiencing existent, or emerging, psychological distress? Findings from interviews with parents and a focus group with employers - Read here
🔗 Workplace recommendations for employers to support and promote the emotional wellbeing of new/expectant parents in the workplace - Read here
