CAMPAIGNING Bournemouth University academic Dr Andy Mayers is celebrating after learning that fathers who have experienced stress or mental health issues as a result of the birthing process are to be provided with mental health support through the NHS for the first time.
Speaking after the NHS announcement Dr Andrew Mayers, Principal Academic in Psychology at Bournemouth University, said, “Until this announcement, fathers were not formally considered for needing support for ‘perinatal’ mental health. Research shows that one in ten fathers experience symptoms similar to what we see as ‘postnatal depression’ in mothers.”
As a result of his campaigning, which included a number of Parliamentary briefings, NHS England have announced that all new fathers and fathers-to-be will be offered mental health checks if their partner is suffering anxiety, psychosis or postnatal depression.
Over the last few years, Dr Mayers and colleagues in mental health charities and organisations across the UK have worked to provide evidence of the support needed for fathers. The research looked at the extent to which fathers get help for their own mental health in the perinatal period (pregnancy through to the first two years of a child’s life).
A second research project explored what support fathers got to learn how to care for their partner, should she develop mental health problems, while a third study looked at fathers’ experience of witnessing their partners birth trauma.
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