Would you like to take part in making some films to help improve the mental health of expecting and new mothers?

Many mums suffer with emotional and mental health problems when they are pregnant and after childbirth, affecting not just them but their partners and wider family. However there is help available that can make a big difference.

Best Beginnings is making a set of short films to raise awareness of the mental health issues that can happen during pregnancy and in the postnatal period. They will show how emotional wellbeing and resilience can be supported at this time, and highlight the help that is available for mums and for dads/family supporting mum. The films will feature the stories of families who have experienced anxiety, depression or other mental health issues before or after their baby’s birth, and who are, with support, well on the journey to recovery.

Some of the films we make will help mums, dads and families understand more about mental health issues, recognise symptoms and know where to go for support. Others will be used to help train midwives, health visitors and other professionals who support families.

Could you help?

We need your stories, to help us make these films. We are looking for single parents and couples who are willing to share their experiences on camera. Each story will help make sure that every viewer finds information that is relevant to them and helps them feels more able to look after their mental health.

We are very keen to talk to mums and dads age 16+ who have experienced mental health issues during pregnancy and/or after the birth of their baby, and also to parents with longer-term mental health problems. You will have good ideas about what might help, or hinder, others going through the same thing. These films would be an opportunity to pass on your valuable insights and help support other families.

What would be involved is 1 or 2 short filming sessions recording some of your memories and experiences. Some families who wish to do so may be given a camera to record a ‘video diary’ so that they can record their thoughts at a time that suits them.

We are a small team of experienced film-makers. The head of Best Beginnings Alison Baum and film producer Jacqui Smith both worked at the BBC for many years, making programmes like Horizon and Tomorrow’s World. We know how challenging life can be during pregnancy and with a baby, and your wishes would be respected at all times. You would be given a copy of the final films and, if you wish, all the unedited footage of you and your baby, as a unique and lasting record.

The films will be available online, on DVD and some of the content will also be available within Best Beginnings’ Baby Buddy phone apps. There will also be films for professionals available in secure online areas that will be used for training health and social care staff, and for helping to improve and develop services.

If you are interested and would like to know more, we are very keen to talk to you. At this stage, it’s just a confidential chat – you are not committing yourself to being filmed. Please contact Anna Marriot, [email protected] or by phone 07525 422 308, or Tim Dowse, by email to [email protected] or by phone on 07949 656 447. Tim and Anna will be very happy to call you back. Many thanks.

Comments (0)

Please verify your action

Comment (maximum 3500 characters) (required)

Add a picture

Notify me when someone makes a comment

First name (required)

Last name (required)

Email (required)

Which country do you live in?

Postcode (required)

Address line 1

Address line 2

Town or city

Can we contact you?

Via email

Via telephone

Via SMS

Via post

Which country do you live in?

Postcode (required)

Address line 1

Address line 2

Town or city

By submitting this form you are agreeing to our terms and conditions

Terms and Conditions
1. Terms of website use
This page (together with the documents referred to in it) tells you the terms of use on which you may make use of our website www.bestbeginnings.org.uk (our site), whether as a guest or a registered user. Please read these terms of use carefully before you start to use the site. By using our site, you indicate that you accept these terms of use and that you agree to abide by them. If you do not agree to these terms of use, the use of the site must be terminated immediately.

2. Information about us
2.1 www.bestbeginnings.org.uk is a site operated by Best Beginnings ("We"). We are a registered charity and company in England and Wales with charity number 1120054 and company number 5866886. Our registered office is at 12 Vale Royal, London, N7 9AP.

2.2 We are regulated by the Charity Commission.

3. Accessing our site

3.1 Access to our site is permitted on a temporary basis, and we reserve the right to withdraw or amend the service we provide on our site without notice (see below). We will not be liable if for any reason our site is unavailable at any time or for any period.
3.2 From time to time, we may restrict access to some parts of our site, or our entire site, to users who have registered with us.
3.3 If you choose, or you are provided with, a user identification code, password or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential, and you must not disclose it to any third party. We have the right to disable any user identification code or password, whether chosen by you or allocated by us, at any time, if in our opinion you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these terms of use.
3.4 When using our site, you must comply with the provisions of our acceptable use policy - this can be viewed at www.bestbeginnings.org.uk
3.5 You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to our site. You are also responsible for ensuring that all persons who access our site through your internet connection are aware of these terms, and that they comply with them.

4. Intellectual property rights
4.1 We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in our site, and in the material published on it. Those works are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All such rights are reserved.
4.2 You may print off one copy, and may download extracts, of any page(s) from our site for your personal reference and you may draw the attention of others within your organisation to material posted on our site.
4.3 You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text.
4.4 Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors of material on our site must always be acknowledged.
4.5 You must not use any part of the materials on our site for commercial purposes without obtaining a licence to do so from us or our licensors.
4.6 If you print off, copy or download any part of our site in breach of these terms of use, your right to use our site will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made.

5. Reliance on information posted
Commentary and other materials posted on our site are not intended to amount to advice on which reliance should be placed. We therefore disclaim all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on such materials by any visitor to our site, or by anyone who may be informed of any of its contents.

6. Photography
The photographs of children used within this site to illustrate Best Beginnings' work may depict situations enacted by models and may or may not depict actual situations.

7. Our site changes regularly
We aim to update our site regularly, and may change the content at any time. If the need arises, we may suspend access to our site, or close it indefinitely. Any of the material on our site may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update such material.

8. Our liability
8.1 The material displayed on our site is provided without any guarantees, conditions or warranties as to its accuracy. To the extent permitted by law, we, other members of our group of companies and third parties connected to us hereby expressly exclude:
(A) all conditions, warranties and other terms which might otherwise be implied by statute, common law or the law of equity;
(B) any liability for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage incurred by any user in connection with our site or in connection with the use, inability to use, or results of the use of our site, any websites linked to it and any materials posted on it, including, without limitation any liability for:
(C) loss of income or revenue;
(D) loss of business;
(E) loss of profits or contracts;
(F) loss of anticipated savings;
(G) loss of data;
(H) loss of goodwill;
(I) wasted management or office time; and
for any other loss or damage of any kind, however arising and whether caused by tort (including negligence), breach of contract or otherwise, even if foreseeable, provided that this condition shall not prevent claims for loss of or damage to your tangible property or any other claims for direct financial loss that are not excluded by any of the categories set out above.

8.2 This does not affect our liability for death or personal injury arising from our negligence, nor our liability for fraudulent misrepresentation or misrepresentation as to a fundamental matter, nor any other liability which cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

9. Information about you and your visits to our site
We process information about you in accordance with our privacy policy. By using our site, you consent to such processing and you warrant that all data provided by you is accurate.

10. Transactions concluded through our site
Contracts for the supply of goods formed through our site or as a result of visits made by you are governed by our terms and conditions of supply.

11. Uploading material to our site
11.1 Whenever you make use of a feature that allows you to upload material to our site, or to make contact with other users of our site, you must comply with the content standards set out in our acceptable use policy. You warrant that any such contribution does comply with those standards, and you indemnify us for any breach of that warranty.

11.2 Any material you upload to our site will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary, and we have the right to use, copy, distribute and disclose to third parties any such material for any purpose. We also have the right to disclose your identity to any third party who is claiming that any material posted or uploaded by you to our site constitutes a violation of their intellectual property rights, or of their right to privacy.

11.3 We will not be responsible, or liable to any third party, for the content or accuracy of any materials posted by you or any other user of our site.

11.4 We have the right to remove any material or posting you make on our site if, in our opinion, such material does not comply with the content standards set out in our acceptable use policy.

12. Viruses, hacking and other offences
12.1 You must not misuse our site by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to our site, the server on which our site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our site. You must not attack our site via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack.

12.2 By breaching provision 12.2, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use our site will cease immediately.

12.3 We will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a distributed denial-of-service attack, viruses or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to your use of our site or to your downloading of any material posted on it, or on any website linked to it.

13. Linking to our site
13.1 You may link to our home page, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it, but you must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists.

13.2 You must not establish a link from any website that is not owned by you.

13.3 Our site must not be framed on any other site, nor may you create a link to any part of our site other than the home page. We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice. The website from which you are linking must comply in all respects with the content standards set out in our acceptable use policy.

13.4 If you wish to make any use of material on our site other than that set out above, please address your request to [email protected].

14. Links from our site
Where our site contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your information only. We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources, and accept no responsibility for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.

15. Jurisdiction and applicable law
15.1 The English courts will have exclusive jurisdiction over any claim arising from, or related to, a visit to our site, although we retain the right to bring proceedings against you for breach of these conditions in your country of residence or any other relevant country.

15.2 These terms of use and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them or their subject matter or formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims) shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of England and Wales.

16. Trade marks
"BEST BEGINNINGS" is a UK registered trade mark of Best Beginnings.

17. Variations
We may revise these terms of use at any time by amending this page. You are expected to check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes we made, as they are binding on you. Some of the provisions contained in these terms of use may also be superseded by provisions or notices published elsewhere on our site.

18. Your concerns
If you have any concerns about material that appears on our site, please contact [email protected].

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Latest

Partnership Opportunity- Baby Buddy Local Birmingham
They Call Me Dad Evaluation
Help keep Baby Buddy FREE resources

Give the gift of support for all new and expecting parents!
Help keep Baby Buddy FREE

Give the gift of support for all new and expecting parents!

Best Beginnings launches Baby Buddy in Hounslow!

We are delighted that Healthcare professionals in Hounslow are now Baby Buddy Professional Champions! Best Beginnings launched Baby Buddy today in cooperation with Hounslow Council and Hounslow Clinical Commissioning Group.
Baby Buddy Champions Launch in West Sussex

Baby Buddy is now part of "business-as-usual" for health professionals and parents in West Sussex. It launched on 29 January 2018 at Langley Green Children and Family Centre, Crawley, after a six week training and embedding process with maternity staff. The Embedding process is a tailored a programme to use Baby Buddy to address local concerns. Baby Buddy will now be enhancing the maternity experience and improve outcomes in West Sussex.
Baby Buddy Professional Champions trained in Norwich

As part of our Comic Relief funded work, Best Beginnings is working with Health Care Professionals in the East of England to improve the conversation around perinatal mental health and instruct on using our multi-award winning free Baby Buddy app to improve practice in the maternal care pathway.
Best Beginnings at the British 10K

On Sunday 9th July 2017, 10 runners represented Best Beginnings at the Virgin Sport Westminster British 10k and raised funds for Best Beginnings’ work to support parents in giving their children the best start in life. The British 10k is considered a ‘mini London Marathon’. It attracts thousands of runners to charge around the closed-off streets of Westminster.
Punjab and Kiran Open Up: From Discovery to Recovery

We spoke with mental health advocates and Best Beginnings supporters, Kiran and Punjab. Together, they share their journey with mental health, from discovering Punjab's difficulties and how they managed this.
A Tick For Donna's Bucket List

Mental health and well-being deserve equal attention as the physical side. Donna Gibbs ran the London Marathon in order to raise awareness for mental health, as well as for her mum, who also suffered from significant mental health issues.
Postpartum Psychosis Affects Both Fathers and Mothers

Postpartum psychosis can be challenging. According to James Akinyemi, "being a partner to somebody suffering from postpartum psychosis after child birth is the most challenging situation any man can face"
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry kick off the next phase of the Heads Together as 2017 Virgin Money London Marathon draws closer
Best Beginnings are the winners of the NHS in the North West Excellence in Supply - Support Services Award 2016!

Best Beginnings won this award for the work we have carried out in both Cheshire West and Chester and Blackpool, embedding Best Beginnings resources, including Baby Buddy app, into local care pathways in partnership with their healthcare professionals.
OUR CHANCE to make a difference

Our Chance aims to engage parents, particularly those in higher risk groups, and empower them with the knowledge and confidence they need to have healthier pregnancies By being aware of the symptoms of possible complications, however rare, and knowing what steps can be taken to reduce risks, including lifestyle changes, parents will be able to maximise their chances of healthier outcomes.

Breastfeeding Videos

Your guide to breastfeeding and how to do it successfully.
If my baby's hungry after a breastfeed does it mean I haven't got enough milk?

A lot of parents worry that their baby may not be getting enough milk. But as long as your baby is weeing and pooing often, and gaining weight, then you don't need to worry. Learn more here.
From Bump to Breastfeeding

From Bump to Breastfeeding is a project to support women with breastfeeding. It includes a set of films following the journey of mums who decide to breastfeed their babies to provide support and information for parents. Learn more here.
5. Graphic of a baby attaching on the breast
Out of the Blue

Mental health resources to support parents who may experience a wide range of emotional problems: from generalised low mood and anxiety to severe depression and postpartum psychosis. Best Beginnings' participation in the Heads Together campaign, spearheaded by The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
The National Teenage Pregnancy Midwifery Network

Working to improve outcomes for teenage parents and their children by developing maternity services to meet their needs. Learn more about the National Teenage Pregnancy Midwifery Network here.
Small Wonders

Supporting you when your baby is sick or premature. Small wonders project include 12 bite-size films following families and their journey in neo-natal units. Learn more here.
Out of the Blue Films Launched

23rd March 2017 marked the launch of Best Beginnings' Maternal Mental Health films, with a moving speech from HRH The Duchess of Cambridge and conversations between our parent contributors
Our Vision

Through supporting all parents, co-parents and caregivers to give their children the best beginning in life, we will help the whole of society now and for the future.
The Baby Buddy App

The award-winning and free pregnancy and parenting app full of trusted information for mums, dads and caregivers during pregnancy, birth and baby's first year. Endorsed by Royal Colleges and other leading health organisations in the UK.