The perinatal community mental health team provides a community service to support women who are experiencing mental health difficulties during pregnancy or in the first year after they have had their baby.
Mental illnesses affect more than one in ten women during pregnancy and the first year after childbirth.1. During pregnancy and after birth, women can be affected by a range of mental health problems including anxiety disorders, depression and postnatal psychotic disorders. Some women are at increased risk of experiencing mental illness in the perinatal period, particularly those who have suffered from a severe perinatal mental illness such as postpartum psychosis, severed depression and those with bipolar disorder. 2
The team supports women living in North Yorkshire and York who are either pregnant or up to one year post-natal and who have been suffering with significant mental health difficulties, that requires specialist support from mental health services.
You can be referred by your GP, health visitor, midwife or another professional who works with you. You will be contacted by a member of the team to arrange a convenient appointment for your assessment. If we are unable to reach you by telephone we may send you an appointment by post. If you do not feel you need this appointment it would be helpful to let us know. Your initial appointment can last up to an hour and is an opportunity for you to discuss your current difficulties. You are welcome to bring a friend, family member or other professional to this appointment if you would find this helpful.
If we decide that the perinatal service is the best service to support you, you will be allocated to one of the clinicians within the team. They will then work with you to agree a care plan to help meet your individual needs and find solutions to support you on your road to recovery.
Everything you say, and the information about you will be kept confidential within the perinatal team. The only instance in which we would need to break your confidentially is if it was felt there was a risk to yourself or others, but we would speak to you about this.
