Our Specialist Perinatal Service works with women and birthing people who live in:

Cheshire, East, Cheshire West, Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens, Warrington and Wirral

Who are:

Women and birthing people can be referred to a Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Teams according to the area they live in.

We accept referrals from Midwives, Health visitors, children’s centres, nurseries, GPs, therapists, and any voluntary organisation working with the family.

If you are currently experiencing or at risk of experiencing perinatal mental health illness symptoms, You can be referred to this service by any of your:

  • healthcare professionals, such as a Midwife, GP, Health visitor, Therapist, Social Worker
  • or voluntary organisation worker such as children’s centre worker, home start, community/local centre, nursery, etc.

Discuss making the referral with them and if you agree and consent, they can make the referral, it’s the first step in trying to feel better.

The team will contact you to discuss the next steps and possible options of support.

Pregnancy planning 

We offer pregnancy planning support appointments if you are thinking about, or planning to have, a baby, and:

  • have a history of complex lives or mental health problems and are taking medication for mental health problems
  • are worried about the impact having a baby will have on your mental health
  • have anxiety around pregnancy, childbirth or becoming a parent.

We do not accept self-referrals, but women can be referred to our service by any professional supporting them such as a GP, midwife, health visitor, social worker, voluntary sector agencies.

The above professionals should make sure they have consent to make the referral and let people know to expect a call from us so we can complete a telephone triage.

Referrals are made by completing our referral form and emailing this to your local service.

Emergency referrals do not require a referral form and should be made via telephone to the local Specialist Perinatal Service between Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.

Mersey Care (Halton, Warrington, St Helens and Knowsley) Tel: 01925 275 303

Mersey Care (Liverpool and Sefton) Tel: 0151 702 4012

Cheshire and Wirral Tel: 0151 488 8434

Outside of these working hours referrers should contact our out of hours services such as Mental Health Crisis Lines which are available 24 hours a day seven days a week, visit our urgent help page.

The pathways below may help you in seeking support and contacting the best service for perinatal mental health.

If you want to talk things through, or unsure about making a referral we are happy to do so on the phone by contacting the perinatal team in your area

(Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm):

You can find the North West Coast Perinatal Clinical Network Pathways below:

We can help with...

We offer one off preconception appointments to provide advice, guidance and signposting tosupport women who are thinking about or planning to have a baby, who:

  • Have a history of complex mental health problems
  • Are taking medication for mental health problems
  • Are worried about the impact having a baby will have on their mental health
  • Have anxiety around pregnancy, childbirth or becoming a parent.

You can call your local team to refer yourself or ask your health professional to make a referral.

Please let us know if you need adjustments to suit mobility, language or other specific needs.

We provide one-to-one assessment and ongoing support for women and birthing people who are pregnant or have a baby who is under 24 months, and:

  • Are currently experiencing complex or severe mental health problems
  • Have a history of or are at risk of developing severe or complex mental health problems during the perinatal period, even if they are currently well.

Following this assessment, We can offer a choice of interventions for these difficulties, or contact other services to make sure you can receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time.

We provide advice over the phone for any health or social care professionals working with women and birthing people from preconception to 24 months postnatal.

  • This includes advice around prescribing mental health medications in pregnancy and risk-benefit analysis
  • Discussing referral options
  • Signposting to other perinatal mental health and parent infant relationships support or services.

Give us a call – we are here Monday to Friday,  9am to 5pm.

We have a wide variety of evidenced based support and treatment in perinatal services including:

  • Appointments planned around the family – at home or in their local area.
  • Perinatal Practitioner led intervention and support
  • Occupational therapy
  • Pharmacological treatments
  • Community integration support
  • Peer support from mums with lived experience
  • Individual Psychological therapies such as: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT), Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprogramming (EMDR), Attachment Narrative Therapy (ANT), Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT), Mentalisation Based Therapy (MBT)
  • Parent infant therapy and interventions such as: Video Interaction Guidance (VIG), Circle of Security Intervention (COSI), Newborn Behavioural Observation, Infant Massage
  • Groups such as:  walking group, music group, Circle of Security Group, perinatal compassionate mind group, and more coming soon.

 

 See Cheshire and Mersey Specialist Perinatal Services Levels of Need and Menu of Perinatal Interventions in the attached document.

A joint initiative between:

Cheshire and Wirral Partnership and Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trusts