Support group for mothers calls for volunteers

Emma Russell, Sarah Penn and Cristina Bowman volunteer with The Happy Mums Foundation

A support group is calling for more volunteers to help mums struggling with their mental health.

The Happy Mums Foundation runs peer-to-peer support groups in Cumbria, and is looking to open more sites in the county.

Some volunteers run the sessions, while others help look after children so their mothers have time and space to speak to the group.

Managing director Lucinda Bray said: "It's a safe space where they can come and meet others in similar situations and just feel open and honest to discuss anything."

One of the volunteer facilitators, Cristina Bowman, said she joined Happy Mums because she felt she would have benefited from the same kind of support when she was a new mum.

Ms Bowman's seven-year-old son was born with Down's syndrome.

"I felt utterly alone, even though I was surrounded by people," she said.

"I felt almost like I just wanted to walk away because I wasn't good enough."

'Empowering'

Ms Bowman now helps run an online support group for mums who have children with disabilities on the 21st of every month, because children with Down's syndrome are born with an extra chromosome, number 21.

Ms Bowman said: "We all come from such similar places. Somebody might be experiencing something totally different, but we can all empathise."

When asked what she would say to mums thinking about becoming a volunteer, or going along to a group meeting, she said: "Take that leap."

"It can be scary that first time walking into a room full of strangers, but we're all friendly," she added. "Just do it."

Happy Mums managing director Lucinda Bray and chair of the board of directors Lizzie Anderson oversee the foundation

Ms Bray said: "It makes people realise that they're not alone."

Ms Bray started as a Happy Mums service user, then became a volunteer facilitator, before being appointed managing director this year.

She said that facilitators were often members of the group in the past.

"It's such an empowering thing for the facilitator themselves, but also for the mums in the group to see that they've experienced some horrible things and they're now in this position and thriving," she said.

Anyone interested in volunteering is asked to have experience with mental health issues.

All successful applicants would be given training and offered mental health support, if wanted, after their sessions, the foundation said.

Ms Bray also said she had seen mothers struggling with long NHS waiting lists for perinatal mental health treatments.

"What we can provide is that consistent space for them to come to," Ms Bray said.