The closure of our VCSE Maternal Mental Health Services Link Worker Project
We are sad to announce the closure of our collaborative VCSE (Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise sector) Maternal Mental Health Services Link Worker project. Over the past two years Ways to Wellness has been prototyping what good maternal mental health support looks like for mums and mums to be experiencing mild to moderate mental health needs.
Despite our best efforts we have been unable to secure a sustainable future for all the services though we are delighted that Sunderland Counselling Service have been successful in securing continuation funding to March 2025 and will continue to deliver their Maternal Mental Health Service.
We have been hugely successful in reaching over 500 women and families experiencing complex social factors. The service has evaluated really strongly. It demonstrates significant value and we have demonstrated that we have made a tremendous difference to the lives of new mums in the four areas across the North East and North Cumbria. We have found that the nature of the services has been particularly positive, being independent of statutory support and based in the VCSE. The approach has also impacted on capacity in the system, and women accessing statutory support have better engaged with these offers because of the link worker support.
As we work towards closure we will work with partners to celebrate our achievements and disseminate what we have learned. Though there may not be an immediate future for our work to continue in all four delivery areas we know that this support is needed.
Ways to Wellness is committed to stewarding the learning from innovation prototypes. In the case of this programme we turn now to being supportive to help funders to stand up a model that we have tested rigorously and we know works. Our evaluation webpage has a suite of three reports: our evaluation summary reflecting on the learning from support extended to over 500 women and families; a longer evaluation report; and a learning plan for replication and upscaling - Launching our Suite of Maternal Mental Health Services Evaluation Reports — Ways to Wellness.
We would like to thank our dedicated staff teams, partners and funders who made this vital work possible. We can be proud of our joint efforts, and we have been deeply committed to supporting mums and their families. We know we leave behind a legacy of impact and have demonstrated the best of the strength of the VCSE.
We also know that mums will continue to need support to navigate their journey through parenthood. We will work with partners to ensure that mums are supported through a positive ending to their time on our project.
Over the coming weeks we will be very visible in our support of women and families. Please do share our findings widely, and direct queries to Ang Broadbridge ang.broadbridge@waystowellness.org.uk.