More than 1 in 10 women develop a mental illness during pregnancy, or in the first year of their baby’s life. Depression is the biggest problem, affecting 10-14% of women. In England, roughly 122,000 babies under one live with a parent who has a mental health problem. Left untreated, poor mental health can have a devastating impact on mums and their families. Not only can mums suffer unnecessarily, but in severe cases, it can be life-threatening –with suicide being one of the leading causes of death for women in the UK during the perinatal period. Poor mental health damages families too, often affecting a child’s emotional, social and cognitive development. 
Comic Relief are looking for partners who can help them to achieve these goals by 2020:
• More women experiencing maternal mental health issues will have access to high–quality, local community based support.
• Improved access to up-to-date information about local, community-based, non-clinical support for women experiencing maternal mental health issues, their families and professionals.
• More women will be able to access appropriate specialist clinical support from statutory providers near them.
• A solid framework that ensures all community-based, perinatal mental health support services are providing high-quality, safe and effective support
• Better understanding of the impact of community-based, non-clinical support and the piloting of new models; putting local providers in a better position to be commissioned by CCGs and other statutory providers.
This initial funding opportunity aims to ensure that more women experiencing maternal mental health issues will have access to high quality community based support in their local area. This will be partly funded by HM Treasury’s “Tampon Tax” to support women’s and girls’ issues.
Comic Relief anticipates making approximately 10 grants to existing or new community based providers of maternal mental health support.
Comic Relief are particularly interested in approaches that:
• Support early identification of perinatal mental health issues, raise awareness and encourage women and families to seek support early.
• Provide women and their families with effective, flexible, local support in a community-based setting.
• Reduce isolation, remove barriers to people accessing support and provide a mixture of activities and support options.
• Have good working relationships and referral pathways with a range of voluntary and statutory partners.
• Provide women and families, who have experience of recovering from perinatal mental health issues, with opportunities to support others in similar situations.
Proposals are welcome for up to £120,000 for between two and three years of activity.
Applicants must be able to demonstrate how they will work within existing cross-sector referral pathways, or develop these in order to provide wrap-around support to women experiencing perinatal mental health issues.
Deadline: Wednesday 15 June 2016, midday
For further information and to apply, visit: www.comicrelief.com/grants/initiatives/maternal-mental-health