This is a Brent and Harrow service, which aims to provide community-based treatment to women with mental health problems during the late antenatal or postnatal period.
Who is the Service For?
- Women who experience emotional difficulties towards the end of their pregnancy (28 weeks onwards) and up to one year following the birth of their child
- Women whose emotional difficulties are impacting on their parenting skills and family relationships
Aims of the Service:
- To provide a comprehensive assessment and treatment to the client in her home and community environment, involving family and appropriate voluntary and professional agencies as necessary
- Individual, couple or family therapy can be offered
- To provide a liaison/consultation service for other professional agencies working with this group including Mental Health Teams, Social Services, Health Visitors, Obstetricians, Midwives etc
- To help mothers build confidence with parenting skills and general coping skills
- Referral to appropriate agency/service if necessary, e.g. Social Services, Brent Home Start, Family Service Unit, Psychotherapy etc
How the Service Works:
Referrals are accepted for women who live in Brent and Harrow area, from professionals, including:
- Psychiatrists
- Community Psychiatric Nurses
- GPs
- Health visitors
- Social Workers
- Obstetricians
- Midwifes
- Paediatricians
This is not an emergency response service and operates during normal working hours of 9am to 5pm.
Following referral, the Service will make contact by phone or letter to arrange an appointment.
An initial assessment will usually be carried out by two members of the team which may require one or two visits. This appointment will last between 1-2 hours and we prefer significant members of the family to be present at the meeting.
The majority of the Perinatal Outreach Service work will be carried out in the mother’s home. Although, alternative arrangements may be possible if necessary.
During the course of our work, we will liaise with the mother’s health visitor and GP.
The service undertakes short term work with clients, most likely up to the end of the episode. If longer term treatment is required, the client is referred to a more appropriate agency or back to the original referrer.
For full details on how to make a referral please visit the Referrals page.