NWC’s health team has a dedicated strand of work on women’s mental health. For the past few years, perinatal mental health has been a particular focus of our advocacy work in this area. The perinatal period broadly refers to when a woman is pregnant and up to one year after giving birth. Perinatal mental health difficulties are not uncommon, with 1 in 5 women reporting this experience. 

When NWC established the Women’s Mental Health Network in 2019, the inaugural event centred on perinatal mental health. Since then, NWC has hosted several events relating to perinatal mental health. This includes an exploratory roundtable in November 2023 and a conference in May 2024.  

NWC’s key asks for the improvement of perinatal mental health outcomes include: 

• Increased investment in women’s mental health 
• The development of gender-sensitive mental health services 
• The establishment of a dedicated Mother & Baby Unit, ensuring women accessing in-patient supports are not separated from their baby 
• Targeted and culturally appropriate supports for marginalised women, include migrant and ethnic minority women. 

Access supports for perinatal mental health