Policy Connect and the All-Party Parliamentary Health Group recently partnered with the Maternal Mental Health Alliance for an important discussion on perinatal mental health in the workforce.

Chaired by Luciana Berger, the parliamentary session featured insights from lived experience, clinical, academic, business, and policy experts on the impact of poor perinatal mental health on the lives and identities of working parents.

The event began with contributions from third sector representatives, who reflected on the importance of supporting working parents when their mental health may be suffering, particularly when inequalities are rife and too often, outcomes remain a lottery.

Participants discussed the importance of addressing the absence of conversation about perinatal mental illness in the workplace, noting the human and economic benefits to the workplace playing a role in raising awareness and providing effective support to their people.

Panellists and guests agreed that policymakers and employers must work together to ensure that perinatal mental health is ingrained into ways of working within the workplace, supported by a culture which fosters trust and support for the individual.

There were also calls for policy that creates greater parity between physical and mental health, encourages employers to provide support, and that takes an integrated, intersectional approach to change.

The session featured important insights from:

• Dame Lesley Regan
• Lord James Bethell
• Laura Seebohm – Maternal Mental Health Alliance
• Annie Belasco – PANDAS Foundation UK
• Jane van Zyl – Working Families
• Christina Brown – The Motivational Mums Club
• Leanne Howlett
• Dr Krystal Wilkinson – The Manchester Metropolitan University
• Lydia Hamilton-Rimmer – Simplyhealth
• Sandra Igwe, MBA – The Motherhood Group
• Debbie Wosskow, OBE – Invest in Women Taskforce
• Tania Boler - Elvie

For more information, please contact jasmin.adebisi [at] policyconnect.org.uk.