Community Corner

My Birth Support CiC - Our regular spotlight on a grassroots VCSE organisation in the perinatal mental health sector

What is the name of your organisation and when did you set up?

My Birth Support CC, has existed as a CIC since March 2021, but has offered perinatal mental health support as a voluntary group by mums for mums since 2013.

Where are you based?

Canterbury, Kent

What services do you offer and who do you support?

We prioritise teaching parents tools that help them to heal themselves and to maintain their mental health as they grow into parenthood.

We currently offer:

• Affordable group childbirth preparation for those who feel anxious of fearful, birth trauma recovery courses and parenting pamper breakfasts

• A monthly Maternal Journal Evening Circle online for those who identify as mums across the UK and a free neurodiverse and disabled parents Stay and Play group over the internet or face-to-face in and around Canterbury UK

• 1:1 childbirth support for those who are tokophobic, birth trauma recovery support and infant loss support. We also teach Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) as a tool to support wholeness. In addition we offer Spiritual Direction alongside the PMH work for those who have faith or are asking about questions of faith

• We have two podcast series for parents to use to help care for their PMH

• We also train other birth, parenting and perinatal mental health practitioners about how to improve their support through in person and online sessions under these themes: trauma informed practise, post traumatic growth, supporting neurodiversity and how to start a CIC, gain funding

Aileen, who leads our sessions is also a Root Maker for the Hearts and Minds Partnership, offering support for Equity, Diversity, Equality & Inclusion in PMH to other VCSEs in England.

Aileen has also just been selected to help shape and train for the new Neurodiverse Birth Practitioner Training Programme in the coming months.

What prompted you to set up in the first place?

The journey of our founding director Aileen White, in overcoming tokophobia herself and then helping others to do the same. This wouldn't have been possible without many different people, faith and organisations helping Aileen to learn how to acknowledge and deal with what was going on one step at a time over 6 years+.

My Birth Support has naturally evolved and changed over time as Aileen has learned from different people, modalities (approaches to helping people therapeutically) and fellow parents about what is needed and what can help. Whenever possible My Birth Support tries to work in partnership with others to offer what is missing in the local area, rather than replicating what is already done really well. The diversity of our support has grown over the past 12 years as need arose with the communities we worked with in Medway, Merseyside and now Canterbury.

Do you run or plan to develop any services that reflect specific needs within your community?   

We noticed that many of the families who access our support are neurodiverse or disabled so we now co-facilitate a weekly Stay and Play group that is deliberately kept smaller than most toddler groups. This helps support those who are feeling vulnerable, anxious, are neurodiverse or disabled. A number of these parents have also been through refuge after domestic abuse so the group focuses on the care of the parents each week as well as allowing little ones to play and get some breakfast.

What do you find most rewarding about running your organisation?   

Seeing the body language of parents change as they grow in confidence and hope through learning who they are and their worth. To see them grapple with their fear and learn how to deal with it, so it is acknowledged, then released and doesn't define them any more.

If you could go back and give yourself one piece of advice when starting up, what would it be?

Keep practising what you teach the parents. Managing and growing a VCSE while also working on the front line with parents is regularly overwhelming! So pace yourself, use the techniques you teach to acknowledge and release the anxiety and keep breathing. Be compassionate with yourself, you can do this with God's help one step at a time.

If you could give all parents / carers a super power what would that be and why?

Lavish amounts of self-compassion. It's desperately needed and would naturally extend to others around them too.

Is there anything about your service that makes it stand out from the crowd or offers something a little bit different?

We are creative, we don't offer just one thing and we use all the senses in our teaching. Using playdoh, games, EFT, visualisation, crafts, creative writing, journaling are just some of the things we regularly use to help parents grow in confidence and wholeness. It makes learning and growth fun, interactive and embodied.

What keeps you going when things get tough?

Resting and listening, stopping long enough to notice what IS working and being grateful. Taking this time in prayer is vital for the work I do. I can't do this work on my own, I need time to receive and discern what matters before I can give to anyone else. It's not me doing the healing, but instead I have the opportunity to facilitate a space and environment where healing is possible. I don't always remember to rest - it is helpful to be reminded, thank you!

Is there anything you'd like to tell us about your service or organisation? Any recent wins or things to celebrate?

Last week Aileen was selected to help shape and train for the new Neurodiverse Birth Practitioner Training Programme in the coming months. We we have also been commissioned to develop a new training programme for Mayah's Legacy charity. "SisterZ Advocates" is a 4 session training programme to help women feel and be better equipped to advocate for themselves, their families and friends, especially in a health care setting.

Thank you to Aileen for sharing these insights on behalf of My Birth Support CiC. You can find out more about the organisation by visiting: www.mybirth.org.uk or contacting aileen@mybirth.org.uk or 01227 933 361

---