World Mental Health Day: How perinatal service helped mum
- Published
Catherine Beard was helped while pregnant with daughter Avery
Awaiting the birth of her second child and struggling with OCD, Catherine Beard thought her pregnancy nightmare would repeat itself.
But a perinatal mental health clinic spotting and treating her condition helped turn her life around, she said.
Now the 37-year-old from Cradley Heath, West Midlands, is urging other expectant and new mothers to seek help.
It comes as £1.2m of national funding is announced for perinatal mental health services in the Black Country.
One in five women will experience a perinatal mental health problem, according to the NHS.
Mrs Beard said she had struggled with perinatal obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) during her first pregnancy and experienced the same symptoms with her second.
One in five women experience mental ill health during pregnancy or in the year after birth
The NHS says the condition revolves around significant fear of harm coming to a baby.
Mrs Beard said: "Everything was about trying to stay pregnant and avoid risk.
"It was all unfounded, but it was controlling every aspect of my life and making me physically and mentally ill."
She said her condition had caused her to be worried about food poisoning and stopped her eating.
With symptoms becoming more obvious during the second pregnancy, doctors referred her to a specialist team.
Hospitals in the Black Country are getting £1.2m to fund perinatal mental health services
"They knew straight away what was going on, as I was so textbook," she said.
"A lot of work went into me having a healthy birth and help continued til my daughter turned one.
"It had a positive impact on my confidence and I went back to university."
She added: "I'd say to new mums suffering, there is hope on the other side."
Dr Vanathi Kennedy said 430 women had so far used the service following pilot schemes
The funding will support new clinics at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley, Walsall Manor Hospital and New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton, plus an existing clinic at Sandwell's City Hospital.
Consultant psychiatrist Dr Vanathi Kennedy, from NHS Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Trust, said: "Giving effective care and treatment to mothers helps not only the mother but goes a long way in helping the child develop."
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