Maternal Mental Health Service (Silver Birch Hub)

We are a free NHS support service working with women, birthing people, and families to offer psychological and emotional support.

Our service has therapists, psychologists, assistant psychologists, specialist midwives and peer support workers. Our role is to identify distress that has come from your maternity, neonatal or reproductive journey.

We work to support trauma, lossand fear around pregnancy and the maternity setting.

This service is available to women and birthing people who live in Cheshire, Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens, Warrington and Wirral and who have experienced distress, loss or trauma during pregnancy and birth.

It doesn’t matter how long ago you experienced this distress, loss or trauma – you can still access our service.

Psychological therapy and support for areas such as:

• Birth trauma
• Extreme fear of childbirth
• Miscarriage and stillbirth
• Loss in neonatal setting or neonatal period
• Loss of a baby to social care in the maternity setting following birth.

We can offer a choice of interventions for these difficulties, and we work really closely with other services to make sure you can receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time.

Our dedicated specialist perinatal midwives work to support the reduction of distress and to improve your wellbeing in pregnancy.

We work in partnership with your midwife, health visitor, GP and anyone else involved in your care. It would be typical for us to share essential information with those partners about your care.

We will always discuss this with you in your appointments before sharing any information about you.

At your first appointment we will aim to understand a little bit more about how things have been for you and how we can help you.

This will involve talking with a practitioner about some parts of pregnancy and your life, before and after becoming a parent (if this is something that applies to you).

You can be referred to our service by any healthcare professional such as midwives, health visitors, GPs, social workers, therapists or counsellors.

Many of our appointments will be virtual, using video technology, or we might call you on the phone.

We will also work to offer face to face appointments where this feels safe and appropriate. If you feel worried about any of this then you can talk to us.

Referring to the service is simple and easy. If you’d prefer to talk things through, we are happy to meet you at one of our virtual MDT meetings as follows:

Liverpool Friday 1.00pm (Fortnightly)

Wirral: Monday 12.00 noon (Fortnightly)

Knowsley and St Helens: Tuesdays 11.00am (Weekly)

Sefton: Fridays 1pm to 2pm (Fortnightly)

Cheshire: Mondays 9.30am to 10.30am (Weekly)

Warrington and Halton: Thursdays 9.30am to 10.30am (Weekly)

Referring to our service is simple and easy, please download our referral form. Please make sure that you read our eligibility criteria prior to making a referral.

There is a ‘no wrong door’ approach when people are referred to us and we work with other professionals to provide high quality personalised care.

The service takes a multi-agency approach to supporting women and birthing people, with professionals from mental health and midwifery working in collaboration to provide a holistic offer to service users.

We hold virtual multidisciplinary meetings should you wish to discuss a referral with us in more detail.

For more information, visit our professionals page.

Example referral form.

Common fears

Silver Birch Hubs runs a ten week compassion focused therapy group for women and birthing people who have experienced perinatal loss(es). This group has had really positive outcomes for those who have attended.

We understand that the idea of a group can be scary or uncertain, so we have created this document of some common fears and questions to help you in considering whether the group is right for you. We have also included quotes from women who have been on the group before.

If you have any questions, please discuss with the therapist you have been speaking with.

“I don’t want to upset others in group or become upset in front of others”

It is ok to become sad and/or upset during the sessions. It is a part of the grieving process and can be helpful in healing. It is natural to find things difficult during the group as we are talking about loss, and different things affect people in different ways. Others in the group may also feel this way and the facilitators are aware of this and are skilled in providing support during the group and/or after the group, if required. If you feel you need to take a break from the group, you can do that.

“We cried together and smiled about our babies memories, and it was incredibly helpful for me to hear others share their complex feelings around grief, guilt and shame, which I had thought were only my own.”

“I’m not sure the group will be tailored to my needs”

The group will cover the same resources/information/coping strategies/tools as 1-1 support, that uses the model ‘Compassion focused therapy’. The benefit of the group is that you also learn from each other different coping techniques and ways to manage from others who have had similar experiences. The peer support that you receive/share with others in sharing experiences/techniques who have had similar experiences can be so powerful and help make you feel less alone with how you are feeling.

“Being able to share with others who really understood what I was going through was life changing for me after feeling so isolated and alone”

“I don’t have the capacity to take on others pain/grief/hear their stories, as I'm already overwhelmed with my own pain and grief”

You don’t need to take on others pain/grief as the facilitators are there to support the group attendees. The facilitators are skilled in supporting those who have experienced perinatal loss and grief. Hearing other experiences can help in making you feel less alone with how you are feeling and reduces isolation and feelings of guilt and shame that are common in those who have experienced perinatal loss.

“Sharing the story of my babies and learning about the babies that the other women in my group had lost, is something I’ll never forget.”

“I’m worried about speaking/sharing/being vulnerable in front of others” or “I’m worried others will dominate, and I won’t get a chance to contribute as I’m a quiet person”

You can speak/share as much or as little as you like during the group. The facilitators are experienced at running groups and will support in providing everyone with the opportunity to speak if they want to. This is done in a sensitive and understanding way without pressuring people to share.

“Losing a baby is one of the most isolating and lonely things that you can go through, so talking about it with other women that really understand was life changing for me, after feeling alone in my grief for so long.”

“I’m worried my experience is ‘not as bad’ or ‘much worse’ than someone else’s loss/experience” and/or “I’m worried others will judge me”

Everyone’s experience of loss and grief is different and there will be a range of loss experiences within the group. We emphasise that a loss is a loss, and no loss is better or worse. How that loss impacts on your mental health and everyday life may also be different but there many similar feelings of pain, grief, sadness, guilt, shame, blame, loneliness, nobody seeming to understand how you feel/what to say to you/how you should feel. Being able to share memories of your baby(ies) and experiences connects you all as a group in a very unique and powerful way and this connection can give comfort and support with healing. “For the first time since losing my babies, I feel good about myself and hopeful for the future, and I can’t thank the group enough for guiding me to that point.”

“I’ve been on previous therapy groups and not found them helpful”

We understand that some people may have been part of a therapy group in the past and may have had positive or negative experiences of this. This group has a very specific focus and part of the power of the group is coming together with others who have had similar experiences to reduce that sense of isolation.

“Talking about our babies and our grief was only one element of the group. Losing a baby changes your view on the world and yourself, and something we all had in common was struggling with our own inner critics. The facilitators of our group were amazing at explaining where our fears and anxieties come from in the brain and giving us tools to treat ourselves with compassion and care. This was the part of the service that I didn’t know I needed, but from the other side I can see that I desperately did.”

“The service has been life changing for me. The positive impact it has had on my life and outlook on life is something I never thought was possible. The care and support received by Anna and the team was second to none and I can’t thank them enough.”

“Thank you so much to the team at Silver Birch, especially Carmel who supported me throughout my journey with the service. From our first encounter I knew I was in the right hands. Having experienced a very traumatic first birth and a subsequent  recent termination for medical reasons it had a massive impact on my pregnancy and caused a lot of anxiety and distress. I was able to talk about my traumas in a very safe place with no judgement and validation of how I feel. The love and care received by the Silver Birch team has been invaluable.”

“I am so thankful for the Silver Birch. I felt the support I had was like wrap around care, that consistently helped me process my anxiety and fears through each stage of pregnancy in a safe place I felt listened to and seen I cannot thank Silver Birch enough.”