Current Research
Bridging the Gap Between Clinical Excellence and Workplace Wellbeing.
At The Motherless Mothers, we translate community-led evidence into systemic innovation and change. Our research sits at the intersection of perinatal mental health and professional identity, aimed at closing the "support gap" for women navigating motherhood without their own mothers.
By collaborating with NHS partners to evolve clinical frameworks and working with global organisations to redefine workplace bereavement culture, we ensure that motherless mothers are not just "managed” but truly seen and supported throughout their entire journey.
Clinical Research: Closing the Gap in Maternal Care
Lead Researcher: Adina Belloli | Psychology PhD Researcher, Child & Family Psychotherapist, and Co-Founder of TMM.
In the UK, 1 in 3 new mothers (approx. 250,000 annually) enter motherhood without the presence of their own mother due to bereavement, estrangement, or illness. Despite this being a distinct vulnerability, this group remains largely unrecognised within standard maternity services.
The Doctoral Project
This mixed-methods PhD study, conducted with The Open University (PHeW Research Group) and NHS partners, evaluates a novel clinical framework designed to bridge this gap in care.
The Framework: A practical roadmap developed by Adina Belloli to help midwives and clinicians Recognise maternal loss, Acknowledge its psychological impact, and Provide tailored support.
Expert Supervision: This research is guided by a world-class team, including Dr. Felicitas Rost and Dr. Zoe Boden-Stuart (The Open University), and international grief expert Prof. Geert Smid (University of Humanistic Studies, NL).
The Goal: To translate community-informed evidence into a scalable, NHS-integrated approach that improves mental health outcomes for motherless mothers and their infants.
This project has been nominated for the ESRC Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership in recognition of its potential for national impact.
Are you a healthcare professional interested in this research? We’d love to hear from you.
Workplace & Corporate Research
The Invisible Load: Grief, Motherhood, and Professional Identity
Co-Leads: Louise Kirby-Jones, TMM Co-Founder, & Anne Perez, TMM Founding Contributor
Grief does not end when a mother returns to work. Our ongoing research investigates the intersection of maternal loss and the professional journey, focusing on how the absence of a "maternal safety net" impacts a woman’s career trajectory and wellbeing.
What We Are Investigating:
Talent Retention: How the psychological transition of mothering without a mother affects confidence and retention during the return-to-work phase.
Workplace Culture: The gap between standard HR bereavement policies and the long-term, "re-triggered" grief that often accompanies new motherhood.
Bespoke Solutions: Using data-driven insights to develop specialised support packages for HR departments and leadership teams.
From Research to Action:
The findings from this study directly inform our Corporate Consultancy & Training. We help organisations move beyond generic policy to create truly inclusive, grief-aware cultures that protect their most vulnerable talent during major life transitions.
Are you an HR Leader interested in learning more?
The Foundation: Our Landmark Impact Report
The Hidden Crisis of Motherless Mothers
Before we could change the system, we had to map the problem. In 2025, The Motherless Mothers conducted one of the largest UK studies into the lived experience of women navigating motherhood without their own mothers.
Our findings from 2,500 women provided the first clear data on the scale of this "hidden crisis" and now serve as the preliminary database for our NHS Framework and Corporate Training.
The Reality of Mothering Without a Mother:
85% of women report that the transition to motherhood re-triggers the trauma of their own maternal loss.
95% experience profound levels of isolation during pregnancy and early parenthood.
81% report significant perinatal mental health difficulties.
3x Higher Risk: Women in our community are over three times more likely to experience postnatal depression than the national average.
"I felt completely invisible to the system. My midwife knew I was grieving, but there was no plan for how that would affect my birth or my bonding with my baby." — Research Participant
Our research proves that maternal loss is not just a personal grief—it is a public health and workplace wellbeing priority.