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Beacon Maternal Mental Health Service

  • The new Beacon - Maternal Mental Health Service (MMHS) is an outpatient therapeutic service, offering targeted psychological interventions. We offer a service to women who are experiencing moderate, severe and complex mental health difficulties (or difficulties which are at a level that mean day to day life and/or the new parenting relationship is significantly affected) linked to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder following birth trauma or perinatal loss, baby loss at any stage or a severe fear of childbirth.

About the service

We work with women from the age of 17.5 years who are registered with a GP in Herefordshire or Worcestershire who are experiencing:

  • Perinatal loss
  • Birth trauma
  • Tokophobia (a severe fear of childbirth)

We also accept referrals for difficulties related to past maternal trauma or loss, and from partners of patients under the care of MMHS.

Our team is unable to work with: 

  • Women who do not have a moderate-severe mental health difficulty
  • Women who are experiencing difficulties not specifically relating to the maternity experience
  • The partners of women who are not receiving treatment from the team

Treatment and support

We provide treatment in a variety of settings to suit your needs, including community clinics, maternity departments and your home. We may also offer assessments virtually via Microsoft Teams.

Our team provides a range of evidence‑based psychological therapies, which may include:

  • Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)
  • Attachment‑based work
  • Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT)
  • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
  • Specialist midwifery support informed by psychological practice
  • Psychologically informed peer support
  • Trauma‑informed birth planning

How to access the service

We do not accept referrals directly from patients or their families. Professionals including those listed below can refer you to our service: 

  • GPs
  • Maternity staff (Obstetricians, Gynaecologists, Midwives)
  • Health Visitors
  • Social Care
  • NHS Talking Therapies and secondary mental health services including Neighbourhood Mental Health Teams. 

Submit a referral 

Referrals can be made via:

All referrals will be triaged on a daily basis by the staff member on point-of-contact. Your referral will then be discussed at our weekly team meeting. After this, we’ll decide whether we can offer you an assessment or whether another service would be more suitable for your needs. You and the person who referred you will receive a letter explaining the outcome.

If we’re able to offer you support, we will arrange your assessment within four weeks of receiving your referral. After your assessment, your situation will be discussed within our multidisciplinary team (MDT), and we’ll agree the most helpful treatment pathway for you.

Guidance on urgent referrals — For professionals

  • Urgent referrals related to the perinatal period should be made to the relevant Perinatal Mental Health Team.
  • If someone does not meet Perinatal Team criteria, referrals should go to the appropriate Neighbourhood Mental Health Team.
  • Outside our working hours, urgent support should be directed to the local Crisis Resolution Team.

Urgent help

If you or a loved one is experiencing something that makes you feel unsafe, distressed, or worried about your mental health, contact the Herefordshire and Worcestershire 24 hour urgent mental health helpline by calling NHS 111 and selecting the mental health option.

Call 999 or go to A&E now if:

  • Yours or someone’s life is at risk – for example, they have seriously injured themselves or taken an overdose
  • You do not feel you can keep yourself or someone else safe

For additional support services, visit: Urgent help and support for your mental and physical health | Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust