I first publicly admitted that I might have PND one year after Esther and William were born

I was really struggling and found the support I needed online

I continued to write on and off about PND

About how it affected my relationship with David

About how PND manifests in me

It was not until 2014

A year after Tilda died

That I was officially diagnosed with PND and PTSD

Combined with grief

I, we, have had a tough few years

And I know that I am not alone

So many parents suffer

From pre and postnatal depression

And I am so pleased that Rosey is there for them

Offering advice and support

Providing a platform

Giving a voice

Please pull up a chair

Put the kettle on

And have a charity chat

With Rosey, the amazing inspirational woman

Behind PND and Me

Can you tell me your name and the name of your charity?
My name is Rosey Wren and PND and Me is the support network I run which is hoping to become a charity soon!

What does your charity do and why?
PND and Me aims to connect, support and empower those affected by Postnatal Depression and other Perinatal Mental Illnesses such as Anxiety, Antenatal Depression etc, with a weekly twitter chat every Wednesday called #PNDHour at 8pm, each week we discuss a different topic, recent ones have included self-care and how health care professionals and family/friends can support a loved one with Postnatal Depression.

There is need for open, honest conversation for mothers affected by PND to talk in a way they feel not only supported but understood by society and to know that sharing their experiences will help shape the way health care professionals offer care and support to mothers they work with.

How did your charity begin?
PND and Me was borne from a poem I wrote with the same name about my experiences of Antenatal and Postnatal Depression, I then joined twitter in December 2013 and began #PNDHour in January 2014.

Can you describe a day in the life of your charity?
Each day is different, but every day I will post messages on both Twitter and Facebook throughout the day with either links to blog posts/webpages, or just little words of encouragement to help mums through the day.

If my youngest child is at nursery I will try and write or plan a blog post, respond to emails or have phone calls but the key part of each day is responding to tweets that come in with the #PNDChat hashtag which is there to provide support 7 days a week, there’s often between 10-20 of these a days and I have a few very lovely ladies who will often reply to these tweets from other mums if I’m not available.

Wednesdays are always busy as it is #PNDHour day! So this involves planning/scheduling tweets to promote the hour and the topic we are discussing. This is often done between hanging up washing, doing dishes and doing the school run!

Between 8-9pm I can be found with my laptop, phone and a notebook tweeting the welcomes, questions, responding and retweeting on my twitter profile and generally struggling to keep up with the 30-50 people who often join in #PNDHour, it is a busy time but I love helping women and health care professionals link up in this way.

How can people donate?
I currently self fund things like the promotional materials but I’ve just set up a donations page here (http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/pnd-and-me-perinatal-mental-health-awareness) as I’m raising funds to create #PNDHour ‘Hope packs’ for mums in Mother & Baby units in the UK, which will include a small booklet with words of hope from others mums who’ve experienced a mental illness as well as a small teddy bear to carry with them so they always have a little hope with them.

What more can people do? How can we get involved?
I’d love to get the awareness out there more of the #PNDHour support network so if anyone would like to help there I can supply them with promo cards to hand out. I’m always on the look out for women to share their experiences on my blog too.

What is your charity’s biggest achievement to date?
We had an incredible 60 people tweeting from all across the UK during one #PNDHour which was a record for us!

What do you hope to achieve in the short term?
To continue encouraging women to seek help and to know they are a good mum, that a mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of.

What are your dreams, long term goals for your charity?
When asking my 7 year old daughter what she wanted to do when she grew up she replied “I want to work with you at PND and Me helping the mummies with poorly heads”. So becoming a charity is something I am working towards so my daughter can fulfil this dream! I would also love to have a team of trained online peer supporters to continue to support those across the UK with Perinatal Mental Illness.

What is the one thing you wish people knew or understood about PND?
That it is a mental illness and it doesn’t make a women a bad mum because of it. That women with PND are strong and desperate to be the best mums they can be which is why they fight so hard to get better.

Do you have a favourite quote or saying?
“I have come to believe that caring for myself is not self indulgent, Caring for myself is an act of survival” – Audre Lorde

Who or what is your inspiration?
Every single mother who is fighting a mental illness, they are some of the strongest most inspiring women I know, all with a different story but all connected by the same aim – to recover from their mental illness and show the world that they are survivors and good mums!

This month is #matexp month of action, where do you feel there are gaps in our maternity services?
I believe that their needs to be a better communication between health care professionals because quite often mums are left to fend for themselves ones a mental illness diagnosis has happened so mums often feel abandoned and struggle to access help because they are unsure where or who to turn to.

What can we do to make pregnancy, birth and early parenting better for all?
Communicate and Inform! There’s often a lack of communication between mums and health care professionals that can leave a mum feeling unsupported and that her experience is just another ‘box ticking’ exercise. Mums need to know more about the signs and symptoms of Antenatal and Postnatal Depression from early on in pregnancy, after all knowledge really is power.

What more can we do to support parents with PND?
Bridge the gap between professional and trained peer support because they can both work brilliantly together to help aid a mums recovery. Also to reduce waiting times for therapies such as CBT.

Ultimately continue to raise awareness of ALL Perinatal Mental Illnesses from the very start of pregnancy because when a mum is aware of signs and knows the way she may be feeling is not uncommon she will hopefully feel able to seek help sooner.

I do not know Rosey but I am in absolute awe of all that she has achieved and I am inspired by her courage and determination, by her passion. This is someone who will move mountains and we can help her on her way.

If Rosey has helped you in anyway through her support network please do let her know and if you can, please donate to help PND and Me help more women who so desperately need advice, reassurance, help and support.

Thank you so much Rosey for taking part in Charity Chat x