Better mental health care around pregnancy exists – I’ve seen it. Why aren’t all women getting it? | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

The tragic loss of a new mother highlights how widespread perinatal mental illness is – and that care is patchy and underfundedTwo sobering facts for you: 1) Suicide is the leading cause of maternal death in the period from six weeks to a year after birth, and 2) There are only 22 mother and baby units in the whole of the UK, with not a single one in Northern Ireland.Perinatal mental illness – a leading complication of pregnancy – is in the news again. Services are crumbling and overstretched, and a postcode lottery means women are often struggling to access treatment, with devastating consequences. The new Labour MP Laura Kyrke-Smith has been speaking movingly about the death by suicide of her friend Sophie, who ended her life 10 weeks after the birth of her third child. Sophie had been suffering from anxiety, especially around her baby’s feeding, and they had spent a night in A&E, but it is unclear whether signs that she was at risk were picked up by professionals. Her friend has been left wondering if, amid all the worry about the baby, anyone asked her mother if she was OK, and what a difference that might have made not only to Sophie, but to the three young daughters she left behind.Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist and author. She is the author of a novel, The Tyranny of Lost Things, and a memoir, The Year of the CatIn the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email [email protected] or [email protected]. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...