Coronavirus: Support Still Available For Expectant Parents

Wednesday, 6 May 2020 16:13

Expectant parents who are struggling mentally with the coronavirus lockdown are being urged to reach out for support.

Today is 'World Maternal Mental Health Day' and NSPCC Jersey wants to use it to encourage people at risk of anxiety or depression to access its Pregnancy In Mind service.

That service is still being run virtually.

Senior Practitioner, Sabrina Charpentier, wants to connect people.

"What is really important is that parents-to-be are able to have ongoing support through other parents that might be experiencing the same worries and concern so they are able to talk to each other about any of their worries and get the peer support they may be lacking.

"It's really important to encourage that they talk to people and talk about any of their concerns or access their midwives and obviously they can call us at the NSPCC in Jersey if they want to have some advice and some support through the Pregnancy In Mind service."

There's concern that the impact of the Stay at Home order will put extra pressure on expectant parents who are already dealing with the pressures of pregnancy.

That is likely to be exacerbated by the issue of not having access to face-to-face contact and not having access to usual support networks.

Pregnancy in Mind was launched in Jersey last year to help expectant parents to cope with low mood, worry and stress.

You can find more information on the service here.