Perinatal mental health information for family members and carers

Address

Teesside perinatal community mental health team

Lancaster House
Preston Farm Industrial Estate
Westland Way
Stockton-on-Tees
TS18 3TS

Telephone: 01642 368303

Email: [email protected]

Service opening hours: Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm

What is the perinatal mental health team?

The Teesside perinatal community mental health team provides a community service to support people who are experiencing mental health difficulties during pregnancy or in the first year after they have had their baby.

If we decide that the perinatal service is the best service to support your partner or family member, they will be allocated to one of the clinicians within the team.

How can the team help me?

We understand that it can be very challenging if a loved one experiences mental health difficulties, particularly during pregnancy and after having a new baby, and this can be difficult for partners and families to deal with.

This is where our service can help.

The team will then work with your partner or family member to agree a care plan to help meet their individual needs and find solutions to support them on their road to recovery. This can include:

• individual work
• group work
• talking therapies
• parent/child interactions.

We are happy for you to be involved in all of this, with your partner’s or family member’s permission.

As well as us providing support to your partner or family member, we can also support you and refer you for a carers assessment.

A carers assessment explores your individual needs and supports you to get the help that you need.

Who works in the team?

We are a team of professionals who will work together to provide the best possible care for you and your family.

The team is made up of:

• specialist community psychiatric nurses
• consultant psychiatrists
• psychologists
• occupational therapists
• specialist community nursery nurses
• support workers
• administrative staff.

Contact us

You can contact us at any time if you are concerned about your partner or family member and baby. Telephone 01642 368303 between 9am and 5pm.

Out of hours support

If you or your partner, need help outside of the perinatal team’s normal working hours, you can go direct to the crisis assessment suite at Roseberry Park, Middlesbrough.

You can also call NHS 111 and select the mental health option.

More information

The websites listed below offer more information to carers on many areas including:

• general information and advice
• help with accessing and completing benefit and grant forms
• carer breaks
• carer support groups
• counselling
• training
• types of mental health problems
• drugs and treatments.

If at any point you wish to have a second opinion by another doctor, please discuss this with your care coordinator or lead professional.

Local information

Are you a carer?
A carer is anyone who looks after a family member, partner, or friend who needs help because of
their illness, frailty, disability, mental health problem, or addiction.
Carers can help with lots of different things, including:

• practical support – like helping them keep their home clean, doing their shopping, or taking
  care of their children
• their medication – like picking up their prescription, and making sure they take the right
  medicine at the right time
• physical help – like helping them to get around their home, or get out and about
• emotional support
• personal care – like washing, dressing, and going to the toilet
• their finances – like making sure they have enough money to pay their bills, and that
  they’re getting any benefits they’re entitled to

Carers are not paid for the help they give.

A statutory carers assessment may help with:

• advice and information about the support available for carers and the person you care for
• a carers emergency card (which gives you peace of mind that the person you care for will
  be looked after if there’s an emergency and you cannot look after them)
• services to support the person you care for, so you can have a break
• services to support you as a carer
• information about local support groups for carers

Use the links below to access a local statutory carers assessment:
Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland Carers Together
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council Carers’ Hub
Hartlepool Carers
Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council’s Support for Carers
Middlesbrough Council

National information

• Carers UK
• Carers Trust
• MIND
• Association for Postnatal Illness
• Action on Postpartum Psychosis
• Pandas Foundation
• The Royal College of Psychiatrists