Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week 2025: National Lottery funding in action

MumsAid
For MumsAid, Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week is a key moment in the calendar. This year, the team organised a series of online events – including video content featuring their founder, who spoke about how the charity “walks with women” and designs its services to be truly accessible. They also hosted a Q&A with their Patron, leading perinatal psychiatrist Dr Trudi Seneviratne.

On 7th May, the team joined Marching for Mothers outside the House of Commons, where they met MP Laura Kyrke-Smith, a vocal advocate for improving maternal mental health support nationwide.

MumsAid was founded in 2012 in response to a glaring gap in specialist counselling for mothers. Since then, it has expanded to offer a range of services, including YoungMumsAid, Mighty Acorns, Akwaaba, and Restore, which support women who may be experiencing birth trauma, parenting a medically complex baby, or facing additional cultural or economic barriers.

National Lottery funding has played a crucial role in MumsAid’s development, from launching new services to building a more sustainable future for the organisation. One young mum told them:

“It was hard to recognise that I am a good mum – they reassure me every week. I had lots of doubts when I first started.”

Spoons: Peer support for neonatal families
Spoons began in 2015, founded by Kirsten Mitchell after her own experience of neonatal care with her son. She saw first-hand how parents in neonatal units were often left feeling isolated, traumatised and overwhelmed, with little support available for their mental health.

What started as a small peer support group has grown into a charity supporting thousands of families every year across Greater Manchester.

During Maternal Mental Health Week, Spoons used their platform to raise awareness about how maternal mental health can be affected by neonatal experiences, where feelings of grief, guilt and trauma are common but rarely acknowledged. They also shared stories from the families they support and signposted parents to the help available through their services.

With support from National Lottery funding, Spoons has provided vital care for families at a time of real vulnerability. In the last year alone, they supported 1,772 families across seven neonatal units, carried out 45 home visits, and delivered trauma therapy to 75 parents. The funding also helped expand their family support role to reach parents facing additional barriers – such as disability, language differences or health inequality.

As one parent put it: “these groups have been a lifeline for them, when they have felt lost and isolated.”

FTWW: Fair Treatment for the Women of Wales

FTWW is a patient-led organisation dedicated to tackling health inequalities affecting women and people assigned female at birth in Wales. It began by focusing on endometriosis but quickly evolved to support people living with a range of physical and mental health conditions, many of which have been historically misunderstood.

Maternal Mental Health Week gave FTWW an opportunity to share the stories of their community, including their Maternal Mental Health Champion, Nia, and to highlight the urgent need for equitable access to specialist Mother-and-Baby Units for people affected by severe perinatal mental health issues in Wales. FTWW also chairs the Women’s Health Wales Coalition, a group of more than 100 organisations that successfully campaigned for a new 10-year NHS Wales Women’s Health Plan. The charity continues to ensure that the plan puts lived experience and co-production front and centre.

National Lottery funding has enabled FTWW to grow its work across Wales, from webinars on pelvic health and focus groups on the social model of disability, to engagement events with schools, universities and employers. Their volunteers and members regularly contribute to policy discussions, NHS events and community outreach.

As participants shared: “so helpful and supportive, makes me feel seen and validated.” “FTWW has been an essential resource for me.”

Thanks to you

Thanks to National Lottery players, these organisations were able to use Maternal Mental Health Week to take meaningful action. They reached parents at their most vulnerable and celebrated their voices to make sure that the future of maternal mental health care is rooted in lived experience.