Postnatal Depression

Having a baby is meant to be a happy time, but for a lot of parents, this just isn’t the case. Post Natal Depression (or PND) can sometimes be the cause of this and the scary thing is, it can happen to anyone. PND has lots of symptoms, these can be physical such as headaches or feeling tired all the time or emotional ones like feeling inadequate, having little interest in your baby, feeling guilty, over concern for your baby or feeling irritable. Many people feel the need to stay silent and often this only makes things worse.

What do we do?

Our PND service principally provides support by visiting the homes of anyone who is struggling with the symptoms of PND. Here one of our specialist practitioners assesses need and offers tailor-made support, this can include advice, enhanced listening support (both emotional and  practical) and/or signposting to other services that could be of help. We recognise that PND doesn’t just affect new mothers, it can affect Dads and other members of the family too. We also offer support in the ante-natal period.

If one to one at home isn’t right for an individual we also offer drop in clinics and group work sessions at various venues and Children’s Centres around Liverpool or at our own facility within Eleanor Rathbone House. 

What if I don't feel ready?

We appreciate not everyone wants to meet face to face, many individuals fear admitting how they really feel in case people judge them and they ask themselves questions such as: Am I really depressed? Should I tell my GP? Will I always feel like this? Therefore we have setup a Facebook  page which offers online forums, FAQs and the recovery stories of others and offer a place to learn more and take the first step on the road to recovery.

LivPIP

So what is LivPIP?

LivPIP (Liverpool Parent-Infant Partnership) aims to help parents and other primary caregivers to understand and develop the relationship they have with their baby. The service works with families both ante-natally and post-natally. This means that beyond our original PND provision we can now provide a fully rounded peri-natal support service for families living in Liverpool, working from conception to the age of two.

The vision of PIP UK is ‘a society of emotionally secure children who grow up to become socially responsible adults’. Our psychotherapeutic support service is funded by The Big Lottery and is available to families who are struggling to form a secure relationship with their baby. We work with parents who are distressed, anxious, fearful and generally finding it difficult to build a bond; helping them to increase their understanding of how to read and respond to their baby’s needs and therefore are also struggling to build a strong attachment.

How will LivPIP support Parents?

After a full assessment parents can be offered;

One to one parent infant therapy
Mellow bumps group
Mellow babies group
Watch wait wonder group
KIPS (using film to support healthy interaction)

All therapy is tailored to the whole family’s needs and we work with antenatal parents as well as post natal.

How will LivPIP support professionals?

Our main focus is on helping parents to gain a greater insight into their own approach to parenting and how this affects the relationship and bond they have with their baby.

Our overarching aim is to promote positive parent infant psychotherapy as a critical element of early years intervention. We aim to do this by providing both direct support services to which other professionals can refer in addition to relevant training for professionals from across the city.

LivPIP also works in partnership with children’s centres, family and children’s services, health visitors and midwives and we accept referrals from all of these professionals, as well as self referral.