What to expect

We will contact you by your preferred method within two weeks to let you know whether our service is suitable to offer you a specialist assessment.

It’s fine to contact us if you haven’t heard from us. Phone: 01865 901 764

All referrals will be triaged by a MMHS clinician to check if the service is suitable to offer support or treatment.

Following referral, you may be invited to attend a first appointment with an MMHS clinician.

Your first appointment

During this appointment, we will aim to understand a little bit more about how things have been for you and how we can help you.

This will involve talking with a member of our team about some parts of pregnancy and your life, before and after becoming a parent (if this is something that applies to you).

We will discuss your goals for recovery and what this will look like for you. It will last about one hour.

In this appointment, we will ask questions about:

• The difficulties you are experiencing
• What’s important to you in life
• Any hopes or goals you may have for therapy
• How we can best support you

This session will be at a pace that suits you. You will not be expected to speak about anything you would prefer not to.

Agreeing a plan

Together, we will agree on a plan based on what will be most helpful to you. This might include:

• group support
• individual sessions with a specialist mental health midwife or psychological therapist
• psychologically informed birth preferences developed in collaboration with your maternity team
• signposting or referral on to other services that might be better placed to meet your needs

Confidentiality

Details of your sessions will be put on your medical record. Please let us know if you do not want something you have told us shared with your GP or other members of your care team.

We will only pass on details outside the MMHS team when you give permission, or if we think you are at risk of harm and we need to protect you or others.

Inclusivity

Our team is inclusive and respectful. If there is anything we can do to make the appointment easier for you, please let us know and we will accommodate these wherever possible.

Please speak to your medical professional who is referring you to the service (for example, GP, midwife) if you have any accessibility requirements at the point of referral.

Interpreting and translation

An interpreter can be requested to be present at appointments. Written information may also be translated upon request. Please let the team know if an interpreter or translation is required.