About us

The Oxfordshire Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service is a secondary care service and focuses on three key areas:

• Preconception advice for women thinking of starting a family who have a history of mental illness themselves or in their family.
• New referrals for women who are newly pregnant and up to one-year post birth, who have a diagnosis of a mental health condition.
• Providing in-reach services to a range of other mental health services in Oxfordshire

Mental health problems can be experienced by as many as 1 in 5 women during pregnancy and the first year after childbirth with more than 1 in 10 women developing mental health difficulties at this time.

Pregnancy and the period after birth can come with a variety of emotional, physical and practical changes for a mother and their partner or family.

Positive maternal mental health contributes to better outcomes for both mother and child including improved parenting and giving the child the best start in life.

Therefore, our specialist perinatal knowledge and expertise from a range of professionals means we are well-placed to meet the needs of the women we support, their infant(s) and family.

We work closely with professionals from other services such as midwives, health visitors, GPs, Obstetricians, Family Nurse Practitioners and other mental health teams including Adult Mental Health Teams and the Infant-Parent Perinatal Service (IPPS). IPPS is a separate, primary care service able to support women in the perinatal period with mild to moderate mental health problems and issues relating to parent-infant bonding.