Faculty of Perinatal Psychology - June 2025 newsletter

Chair intro

Dear lovely perinatal psychology faculty members,

It is lovely to be writing to you again after another busy and productive few months.

Faculty committee

I am so pleased to introduce a few new members to our faculty committee. We are so pleased to have Rachael McAlorum-Jones join us, who is a consultant clinical psychologist in the Community Perinatal Mental Health Team in Belfast, and is taking on the Northern Ireland rep role and supporting with our face-to-face event.

Next, we have Sarah Emmerson who is a principal clinical psychologist in one of the London Maternal Mental Health Services and she is going to support with the upcoming position statement about trauma-informed care.

We also have Kenya Fantie, who we are so lucky to be joining us from another Maternal Mental Health Service in London where she works as an assistant psychologist. Kenya will be taking on the role of our early career rep on the committee.

And last but no means least, I am also incredibly pleased that the lovely Michele Kavanagh is moving on from her role as secretary and has kindly agreed to take on the role of co-chair of the committee with me. I am going to value her kind and thoughtful wisdom beyond reckoning.

We are still looking for people to take on the role of faculty committee secretary and to support with webinar events – so please do get in touch if you are interested in joining our lively and friendly committee - and would like to find out more.

Events

As per usual, one of the main focuses I have had in the last few months is organising our events programme for the faculty. We have hosted the first part of our two-part webinar series that focuses on working therapeutically with fertility issues and reproductive loss. 

You can still book to join part two on 4 June (and access a recording of part 1) here.

We are so pleased to have had 160 bookings to attend the webinar so far and as lunchtime webinars seem to be quite popular – we would like to do more of them. One topic that we are looking into scheduling for a webinar later in the year is around working with traveller communities (some of you may remember that we had wanted to cover this in our unconference last year but the invited speaker had an emergency and could not make it).

Another topic that I would love to cover is sexual wellbeing and intimacy in the perinatal period. What do you think? Please do get in touch with any other ideas for future webinar topics.

As well as webinar planning, I am excited to confirm that we have a date in the diary for our next face-to-face event.

• What: Psychological leadership in perinatal services: The courage to create change in challenging times.
• When: 25 November 2025, 10am - 4pm (lunch provided)
• Where: BPS Office, 30 Tabernacle Street, London, EC2A 4UE

We have started organising this event based around all of you who replied to the last coproduction survey (huge, huge thanks!). We will confirm the booking details in our next newsletter.

Meanwhile, if you have any ideas or suggestions for great speakers or facilitators for our theme, then please do get in touch.

Position statements: development and publications

Another area of focus for me in the last few months has been around overseeing all the various position statements we are involved in developing and publishing. I have included some brief updates on three of these projects (we currently have six live and in development) below.

• The Maternal Mental Health Service position statement – I presented our indicative findings on this work at the MMHS Summit in April in terms of what staffing levels we propose are required to meet the full need of all women and birthing people with moderate to severe tokophobia, birth trauma and mental health difficulties following perinatal and custody loss. It was such a lovely event and had some really encouraging feedback. We are still working with our task and finish group to finalise the report and publish it.
• Providing psychological therapies for perinatal trauma and loss in maternity services position statement – we are so delighted that this report is now published accompanied by a personal blog from me about my own experience of receiving a non-evidence based therapy by an untrained therapist for trauma symptoms. We would encourage all our membership to share this report and my blog with their maternity and midwifery colleagues and any maternity leads in their Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS). We are also working with colleagues to think about putting on an event to share the recommendations in the report more widely alongside a workshop about what good practice might be for maternity colleagues who are working with traumatised patients. Watch this space.
• Introduction to perinatal services guide – led by Laura Francis, we have finalised a fantastic guide aimed at early career practitioners to help bring them up to speed with some of the key things involved in starting a new role in a perinatal mental health service. This guide is being designed as we speak, and we are hoping to go live and publish it in the next few weeks.

 As ever, please do drop me a line on [email protected] if you want to chat about anything faculty related.

With best wishes,

Dr Camilla Rosan

Chair of the Faculty of Perinatal Psychology & Consultant Perinatal Clinical Psychologist

Messages from your representatives

England           

• On 13 March 2025, the Government announced that NHS England will be amalgamated into the Department of Health and Social Care. This process will take place over the next two years. This is also a time of financial challenge. NHS Trusts in England have been asked to make cost savings of 50 per cent of recent growth in corporate budgets with this reallocated for front line clinical services. Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) also have to reduce their budget by 50 per cent over the next six months. These changes will have far reaching impacts across the NHS.
• There is further information here, Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and at the King's Fund.
• A recent interview with Sir James Mackey, Chief Executive, NHS Transformation Executive team reflecting on his role and priorities.
• The new 10 Year Health Plan is still being completed and is due to be published in June this year.

 Scotland           

• Discussions continue regarding the new model of care for neonatal services in Scotland. Psychology clinicians are discussing how to streamline pathways so that families who are relocated for neonatal care have access to equitable care, irrespective of location. This is potentially challenging due to differences across regions in service provision and capacity.
• The focus on trauma informed maternity care continues, although unfortunately funding from NES to support the pathfinder projects has come to an end. This means that individual health boards will work towards implementation using the resources provided but the process is likely to be different for each area.

Wales 

• The Birth Trauma Association hosted an event in the Welsh Parliament on 30 April 2025 with perinatal psychologists in attendance. The hope is to keep the need for birth trauma services on the agenda of the Welsh Government.
• The Cardiff perinatal service had a PQN accreditation visit on 7 May. Hopefully it will be the first community service in Wales to be accredited. The other perinatal community services in Wales are working toward PQN accreditation.
• The Parent Infant Foundation are working well to highlight the need for consistent parent-infant relationship services across Wales e.g. through the production of influencing documents and leading on the response to Welsh Government consultation for the NHS 5-year plan for Wales.

 Northern Ireland           

• There was a networking event supported by DCP NI and hosted by the School of Nursing and Midwifery on 15 May 2025. The aim is to scope opportunities to influence in light of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance mapping Report and Renfrew Report.
• The Public Health Agency launched its new Perinatal Mental Health Pathway in March 2025.

Neonatal

We are pleased to have endorsed a recent publication from the Neonatal Leads for Psychological Practice and the Association for Clinical Psychologists (ACP) with an updated psychological services specification. It describes staffing requirements for models of care for neonatal families that spans early, preventative and supportive engagement in the period immediately following discharge. This will soon be published on the ACP website.

Getting to know the faculty

In this section, we introduce members of the faculty committee to help you get to know the faces behind our work. So far, you've heard from our chair, Camilla Rosan, our newly-qualified representative, Laura Waring and Sarah Healy who, along with Kyla Vaillancourt, is responsible for putting together the faculty newsletter. This month, we're excited to introduce Ukwuori-Gisela Kalu, who is our Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Lead.

Ukwuori-Gisela Kalu

"I've always been passionate about working with families and taking a whole-systems approach to care. Over the years, I've had the opportunity to work in perinatal services both in the UK and abroad, which has given me a broader perspective on the challenges and opportunities in this field. I currently lead a Maternal Mental Health Service (MMHS) in London.

While I'm proud of the work we do, I'm also very aware that access to care and the inclusivity of our workforce can look very different depending on where you are. That awareness drives my commitment to addressing inequalities, both in the care we provide and within our profession. In the context of ongoing socio-political change, I believe it's more important than ever to be active in conversations about equity and justice.

That's why I'm also part of the DCP Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, where I work alongside others to push for meaningful change. You can check out one of our recent podcasts on celebrating neurodiversity.

I'm hopeful that newer generations will find the British Psychological Society to be a helpful and accessible space, and I'm always keen to hear from others about what would make it feel more so. Please feel free to contact me here [email protected]"

Something to...

Something to Read     

We spotted a feature in the Psychologist magazine from a clinical psychologist working in a Maternal Mental Health Service during her own pregnancy. We know this is a professional challenge shared by many in the perinatal professions and so this article may be of interest to many of our members.

Something to watch or listen to...

The EDI sub-committee within the BPS has released a new podcast episode about the experiences of neurodiverse clinical psychologists. They discuss experiences in their day-to-day work of being a psychologist, challenges they face and what helps them to succeed at work.

Dr Ukwuori Kalu, EDI representative within the Faculty of Perinatal Psychology, has been involved with this work and other EDI podcasts are due to be released soon.

Recent webinars available on Future NHS Collaboration Platform:

• Parent Infant Relationship from 14 Jan PMH FutureNHS Collaboration Platform
• National 0-5s Mental Health Shared Learning Webinar - 22 January 2025
• MMHS: workforce and staff development from 25 March Future NHS Collaboration Platform

Something to learn...

The Pearl Institute of Perinatal Psychology has recently updated their clinical library, now featuring a curated selection of outcome measures tailored for professionals working in perinatal mental health. They have selected measures backed by strong evidence to ensure they are both reliable and relevant to practice. 

Something to do...

Please consider participating in two ongoing research studies! Both are seeking the views of clinicians who work in specialist perinatal mental health services. These studies are trying to improve perinatal mental health care– please consider contributing to this important work and participate. 

• Understanding the role of psychological treatments in recovery from postpartum psychosis study. This study involves the completion of two online surveys
• Understanding the views and experiences of clinicians in conducting parent-infant relationship assessments, while working in a setting that provides mental health support to birthing people during the perinatal period. All that is involved is one survey that should take between 15-20 minutes.

New publications

• A novel maternity clinical supervision service: overview and outcomes by S. J., Shayle, A., Hinde, C., Saunders, T., Garratt, C., & O'Curry, S. (2025) British Journal of Midwifery, 33(3), 126-133.
• From mourning to memorialising–A lasting connection through remembrance: The role of memory making in preserving the identity of parenthood amongst women who have suffered a perinatal bereavement by Payne, E., Silverio, S. A., Fellows, R. E., Heywood, L. E., Burgess, K., Storey, C., ... & PUDDLES UK Collaboration. (2025)Women and Birth, 38(3), 101902.
• Assessing the parent–infant relationship: a two-stage, COSMIN-informed systematic review evaluating clinician-rated measures by Shone, I., Gregg, L., & Wittkowski, A. (2025). Frontiers in Psychiatry, 16, 1426198.

Helpful resources

• Dr Michelle Cree, author of The Compassionate Mind to Postnatal Depression, has now published a workbook for all parents in the transition to parenthood. The New Motherhood Workbook - another valuable resource to parents and anyone working with those in the perinatal period.
• Michelle has also collaborated on a publicly available Compassionate Mind workbook available through the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust webpage.
• RCPsych has developed a number of new e-learning modules which are free and accessible to anyone on different perinatal mental health topics. The first one has been published and is focused on perinatal anxiety disorders. These can be useful resources for the induction of new staff members into specialist teams.

Other news

• On 30 April 2025, a MMHS Summit was held in South-East London to celebrate the development and progress of Maternal Mental Health Services (MMHS) across the country. It was a jam packed and inspiring day, with delegates who attended from all over England. Many committee members for the Faculty of Perinatal Psychology were present and there was chance to present the mapping work that was conducted in partnership with the Maternal Mental Health Alliance and share details from the upcoming service specification that will be published by the Faculty later this year. The hosts for the next event should be announced soon.
• There have been many events held recently to mark Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week and Black Baby Loss Awareness Week. The Maternal Mental Health Alliance launched a Perinatal Mental Health 'symptom checker' to help parents identify signs of common perinatal mental health conditions.
• The third annual Saving Babies Lives' report has been published by the Sands and Tommy's Joint Policy Unit. The report includes 10 specific actions for policymakers. You can access the full report here: Saving babies' lives 2025 - Sands And Tommys Joint Policy Unit