A READING woman says an online mental wellbeing support package helped her manage perinatal anxiety.
Eva, a 39-year-old mother of two, tapped into support devised by SilverClouth Health.
She is one of more than a million people across the globe who have access the firm’s services.
They helped her to manage her anxiety, and find the words so Ms Smith could share how she had been feeling following a pregnancy after a miscarriage.
The company says its support package is approved by the NHS, whom it partners with to provide online mental health programmes for a wide range of needs.
Eva says she was introduced to the Space from Perinatal Anxiety programme from SilverCloud Health when she needed it most.
In 2016, she had a traumatic miscarriage.
After attending talking and group therapy, she and her partner felt mentally ready to try again for a baby. However, after falling pregnant again in 2020 during the pandemic, she found fear overtook her.
Alongside a lack of certainty if her child was going to make it full term, lockdown meant that the support group Eva had previously relied on during her first pregnancy were unable to meet.
She felt completely isolated and unable to talk to her husband.
“Using SilverCloud really helped me,” she says.
“It also helped in terms of my relationship with my partner. It gave me the words I needed to explain to him how I was feeling following pregnancy after miscarriage, how I wasn’t coping, and it helped him understand that this was something that happened not only to me, but to other women too.”
Eva mentioned she was struggling during a regular check-up with her midwife, who then recommended therapy. Her GP sent her to SilverCloud, a digital CBT website.
Through the therapy-based programme, Eva was able to manage her anxiety.
“I’m in a much better place with managing my anxiety these days, but when I feel it coming on I can easily and quickly access SilverCloud’s programmes from the comfort of my own home at any time of the day or night,” she says.
SilverCloud says that up to 20% of new mothers, and up to 10% of new fathers, develop a mental health problem within pregnancy or the first year following giving birth.
The then Berkshire NHS Trust rolled out SilverCloud’s Space for Perinatal programme to support parents and caregivers during pregnancy and the first year following birth.
The rollout ensured that mums using the service had access 24 hours a day to iCBT, allowing for immediate support whenever it was required, which fits in more easily with the sleep, eat, change, repeat routine of a newborn.
In terms of usage, figures show that each patient accesses the programme 17 times spending approximately 14 minutes online for each session.
“The positive impact of SilverCloud for these one million active users is immense, and that impact is also felt by these one million active users’ families, workplaces, and communities,” said Ken Cahill, the firm’s CEO.
“The demand for mental health services is now greater than ever; this milestone is just the beginning for us and reflects our passion and vision to democratize mental health care for all. We look forward to offering even more scalable and accessible solutions that provide care for patients in need and improve outcomes while ultimately driving healthcare costs down.”
To learn more about its programmes, log on to: www.silvercloudhealth.com/uk
