Perinatal mental healthcare explored at conference

Perinatal CARE

Service innovations in perinatal mental healthcare explored at UMHL conference

The benefits of innovative services such as art and music therapy for the mental health of women during pregnancy were among the issues explored at the fourth annual conference of the Perinatal

University of Limerick-based music therapist and PhD candidate, Pui Sze Cheung, and art therapist Emilie Brown, discussed the role of music and art therapy in maternity care at UMHL, as part of a broader exploration of service development that also saw Dr Kristyn Dunlop, SHO Obstetrics & Gynaecology, discuss the Birth Experience Survey Tracking (BEST) practice study, a quality improvement initiative at University College Hospital Galway.

Patients attending the service in UMHL have been able to avail of art and music therapy for 12 months now, thanks to funding support from Healthy Ireland. Ms Cheung and Ms Brown shared patient feedback about the service during the conference, answering questions from the virtual audience.

For the Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service team at UMHL, which was established in 2018 as a joint service of UL Hospitals Group and the HSE Mid West Community Healthcare Organisation, music and art therapy has long been championed as a therapy of the kind that has placed the Mid-West team to the fore in mental health services nationally.

Currently, a team from the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance and the Department of Nursing & Midwifery at UL, in partnership with the Specialist Perinatal Mental Health service at UMHL, is undertaking a major study into how art and music therapy can support perinatal wellbeing. The findings will help to inform the design of programmes to further enhance the wellbeing of mothers and infants in the care of the service.

Maria Gibbons, Mental Health Midwife Manager of the UMHL service, said, “Art and music therapy complements the work of practitioners in the SPMHS. This therapy has allowed mothers to discover themselves again after the birth of their babies; to improve their self-esteem; and, above all, has provided a safe space where they can express emotions that they have found di cult to express in words.”

Art therapist, Emilie Brown, who discussed the role of music and art therapy in maternity care at UMHL during the perinatal mental health conference

The conference had the theme of ‘Collaborate, Change, Celebrate’, and had a rich and varied agenda, with international and national keynote speakers sharing insights with an audience of professionals working with women in the perinatal period, including midwives, nurses, GPs, psychiatrists, psychotherapist, psychologists, occupational therapists and allied healthcare professionals.

The conference also provided the local team with an opportunity for information exchange and establishing bridges for inter-service collaboration, as well as increasing general awareness around perinatal mental health services and issues.

Other topics covered included discussions on the national model of care; ensuring that perinatal services meet the needs of LGBTQ+ parent families; psychosis in the perinatal period; the attitudes of healthcare professionals towards perinatal substance abuse; a case study of cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome in pregnancy; in addition of educational videos on stigma in perinatal mental health; as well as oral poster presentations and video testimony from service users at UMHL.