Supporting maternal mental health in pre-birth work
Published:
Many women involved in pre-birth work have significant mental health needs, often linked to past trauma. These videos highlight the importance of trauma-informed practice in pre-birth work.
Many women involved in pre-birth assessments experience significant mental health needs, often rooted in complex trauma histories and/or previous separation from their children. These challenges can impact their ability to engage with services and prepare for parenthood.
At the 2025 Research in Practice children’s and families Partnership Conference , we heard from researchers, practitioners and mothers with experience of pre-birth assessment, about how involvement with children’s social care during pregnancy can be further traumatising and exacerbate existing mental health challenges.
These videos explore why a trauma-informed approach is essential in pre-birth work - recognising the impact of past experiences, building trusting relationships, and working collaboratively with parents to reduce the risk of retraumatisation. By supporting mental health needs early and compassionately, practitioners can help improve outcomes for both parents and their babies.
Talking points
These videos look at:
- The needs, including mental health needs, that parents involved in pre-birth work commonly present with.
- The importance of embedding trauma-informed, collaborative approaches in pre-birth practice.
- The impact of a key policy change around separation at birth on families in one local area.
Understanding the needs parents present with
Karen Kirby, Lead Practitioner and Team Manager of the Futures service located within Leeds City Council children and families’ services, explores the complex needs, including mental health challenges, commonly seen among young parents accessing their pre-birth services.
Length: 3 minutes.
Working collaboratively with parents using a trauma-informed approach
Karen Kirby shares how Futures embeds trauma-informed practice in their work, highlighting the importance of approaches that prioritise working with parents, rather than ‘doing to’ them in this work.
Length: 2 minutes.
Minimising further trauma at birth
Mike Davies, Jig-so Team Manager, and Kate Ronconi, Senior Manager at Swansea Council, reflect on a key policy change designed to reduce trauma when separation at birth is necessary – emphasising the impact this has had on families in their area.
Length: 2 minutes.
Reflective questions
Here are reflective questions to stimulate conversation and support practice.
- How do you currently recognise and respond to the mental health needs of parents during pre-birth work? Is there more your service could do to support parents' mental health needs?
- In what ways does your practice support collaboration with parents, and how might you do more to ‘work with’ rather than ‘doing to’ parents in your work?
- Are there steps your service can take to minimise trauma for families, especially where separation at birth may be necessary?
You could use these questions in a reflective session or talk to a colleague. You can save your reflections and access these in the Research in Practice Your CPD area.
Professional Standards
PQS:KSS - Relationships and effective direct work | Adult mental ill health, substance misuse, domestic abuse, physical ill health and disability | Shaping and influencing the practice system | Promote and govern excellent practice | Lead and govern excellent practice | Designing a system to support effective practice
CQC - Caring | Responsive | Safe
PCF - Values and ethics | Intervention and skills
Pre-birth: Change Project
Interactive resources designed to enhance pre-birth services and improve outcomes for infants and parents by driving policy and practice development. These tools are valuable for senior managers, strategic leads, commissioners, and professionals in social care, health, and midwifery services.
Pre-birth assessment: Strategic Briefing (2020)
We know that infants are particularly vulnerable, needing care and protection in timeframes consistent with developmental needs. We also know that the perinatal period is a crucial time for development and a good opportunity to harness the desire of parents to be good parents to their expected child. Pre-birth assessment practice varies widely; this briefing is for strategic leads with responsibility for pre-birth assessment activities in child and family social care, health services and midwife
Working with recurrent care-experienced birth mothers: Resource Pack (2019)
In 2017, a team at Lancaster University published the final report of a Nuffield-funded research study into Vulnerable Birth Mothers and Recurrent Care Proceedings (Broadhurst et al, 2017). The Lancaster team, Research in Practice and colleagues from the University of Essex wanted to collaborate to support the use of the research findings to inform more effective ways of working with this population.