ELFT services and partner organisations watched the Breaking the Silence animation of service user stories at the Bedfordshire and Luton Perinatal Mental Health event ‘Mental health in the first 1,001 days – preconception to the first two years’.
It was held at Venue 360 in Luton on Thursday, November 9, to discuss how the service has progressed, next steps and to consider themes including access and challenging stigma.
ELFT interim chief executive Lorraine Sunduza opened the event. She emphasised the importance of co-production and ensuring ‘we make sure our services fit around people – and that people don’t have to fit around our services’.
The perinatal team offer mental health support to people expecting a baby or who have recently given birth and their families.
Interactive sessions and updates on transformation and family hubs programmes were also shared on the day.
Dr Elena Baker-Glenn, consultant psychiatrist with the perinatal mental health team, said the event was about gathering insight from ELFT colleagues and from partner organisations across the footprint to help develop and ensure collaborative care for perinatal services.
She added it was also an opportunity to share some of the proactive work taking place within the service, including the use of podcasts and social media to make information accessible and help challenge stigma about discussing perinatal mental health.
