Hackney perinatal befriending service set to close without funding
A new born baby grasps the thumb of her mother - Credit: PA Archive/Press Association Ima
A befriending service for pregnant women and new mums battling depression is facing closure unless it can secure funding.
The Family Action Perinatal Service has been running in Hackney for six years, supporting babies, mums, families and volunteers through Big Lottery Grant-funded work.
But that funding is set to stop, and as it stands the service will close in June.
David Holmes CBE, chief executive of Family Action – part of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA) – has pleaded for backers ahead of World Maternal Mental Health Day on Wednesday.
He said: “Without alternative funding the service will come to an end in June of this year and we will not longer be able to deliver this specialist work for mothers challenged by perinatal depression. However, we are continuing to seek alternative funds.”
You may also want to watch:
The MMHA reports 1 in 10 women develop a mental health illness during pregnancy or in the first postnatal year and the statistics for fathers are on the rise.
Most Read
- 1 Hackney Wick bar and restaurant opens with Two More Years to go
- 2 Legendary east London graffiti pub to reopen after 26 years
- 3 How Homerton Hospital staff took on the virus in the first year of Covid
- 4 'They don't care,' says Hackney family living in mould-infested property
- 5 Stamford Hill North and Shoreditch hardest hit during Covid waves
- 6 Residents report losing sleep over Broadway Market drinkers and idling minicab engines
- 7 Gone in 60 seconds: Watch as 'keyless' thief steals Hackney car
- 8 New traffic measures as school brings pupils onto a single site
- 9 Crowdfunder for Prodigy's Keith Flint mural to raise mental health awareness
- 10 Letter: Facilities needed to make LTNs work
