Feature
The ‘ Mums and Munchkins ’ group
Catriona Jorgensen has been a pivotal part of creating a safe group space for new mums . Here she shares some of the feedback from the six-week pilot and looks ahead to the future of the programme .
P rior to 2021 , only one perinatal mental health team existed in Northern Ireland . This team covered the Belfast area and consisted of a consultant psychiatrist , a social worker and a community psychiatric nurse .
It was estimated that before that , women in 80 % of Northern Ireland could not access specialist perinatal mental health services ( Maternal Mental Health Alliance 2020 ). Following extensive lobbying all that changed in January 2021 , when the then Northern Ireland Health Minister Robin Swann approved funding for the development of community perinatal mental health teams across Northern Ireland .
Mr Swann commented that ‘ this new service will provide new multidisciplinary community perinatal mental health teams in each of the five health and social care trusts and will include a new stepped care model to ensure regional consistency ’ ( DH 2021 ).
Why I chose the role
My interest in perinatal mental health has been developing for a number of years and my knowledge was helped considerably by the training resources available via RCOT , particularly the Perinatal Mental Health Clinical Forum continuing professional development events .
In August 2021 , I was recruited into the Occupational Therapist – Advanced Practitioner ( Level 1 ) post in the Belfast Health and
22 OTnews May 2023