Postnatal Depression Canterbury

Erin Manning from PND Canterbury

PND Canterbury provides community based support for the 1 in 4 mothers and the 1 in 10 fathers affected by perinatal mental illness. We are funded entirely by grants and donations and rely on volunteers to do all our administration and help our one paid facilitator (20hrs/wk) run the support and play groups.

We currently have groups running for Mums, for Dads and a playgroup for parents with postnatal depression and anxiety. We are getting more and more referrals for people with antenatal anxiety and would love to set up a support group specifically for them.

As we are limited by the venue availability we have a waiting list and could right now be running at least 2 more groups for mothers with PND and an antenatal support group.

We are hoping to lease a venue so we can hold more weekly support groups, including an art therapy mindfulness session, and provide a drop in service. We would also be able to hold educational sessions for families and medical professionals on how to spot and treat perinatal mental health illness.

The current funded support programmes in Canterbury only take mothers with children under 1 and only the sickest of mothers. There are long waiting lists and PND is often not diagnosed until the child is nearly one, meaning mothers miss out on any support. There are no support groups for pregnant women and their partners. PND Canterbury provides support for parents with children up to 5 years old.