Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week 2026

Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week starts today. The theme is celebrating 10 years of voices. Today I'm in conversation with Evie from the Perinatal Mental Health Partnership to discuss how motherhood can reopen grief.

For 1 in 3 new mums, that grief is shaped by mother loss — through death, estrangement, dementia, absence, or complicated relationships.

What we see in our community:
95% felt isolated in the past year.
85% said pregnancy or early motherhood reopened grief.
80% are experiencing mental health difficulties such as anxiety or depression.
Postnatal depression is 3x the national average in the UK and 5x higher in the US.

Those numbers tell a story. Motherless motherhood changes things. Mentally. Emotionally. Practically. We see this again and again. A pattern that shapes pregnancy and early motherhood in ways that often go unnamed.

That's why our charity exists, why I developed the grief-aware maternal framework, and why I'm leading ESRC UKRI-funded research with NHS partners and The Open University focused on improving perinatal mental health outcomes for motherless mothers. Watch the conversation here.