Stroud Motherhood Collective runs peer support groups for mothers in the Stroud District. We have completed an extremely successful pilot over the past year, working with over 270 women, and are now looking to expand the range of our groups so that more mothers can benefit from the connection and support that they offer. We are looking to establish a programme of monthly wellbeing groups for mothers: a yoga group, a singing group, a Maternal Journal group, and a writing group. Each group would offer participants an opportunity to come together with other mothers and share honestly about their experiences of motherhood in a gently-facilitated space, and to explore creative and wellbeing practices proven to support mental health and improve resilience. Alongside these monthly groups, we are seeking to expand our existing Maternal Journal programme with an evening session, and bring our signature New Mothers Wellbeing circle to Dursley.

What we'll deliver:

• Establish four monthly creative and wellbeing groups for mothers and run for at least a year
• Establish one new weekly Maternal Journal session and run for at least six blocks
• Establish one new weekly New Mothers Wellbeing circle and run for at least six blocks

Why it's a great idea:

Maternal mental health is deteriorating year on year in the UK. Record numbers of mothers are accessing perinatal mental health services, 1 in 5 are diagnosed with a mental health condition in the perinatal year, and suicide is now the number-one cause of death for mothers in the first year after birth in the UK. In a 2022 survey undertaken by Stroud Motherhood Collective of mothers in the Stroud district, 97% of respondents said that they had felt lonely, depressed or anxious in the first years of motherhood - with 48% saying they often felt this way. 43% said they felt that they did not have adequate emotional support in early motherhood. Stroud Motherhood Collective was established to combat this epidemic of loneliness, isolation and poor mental health among new mothers; creating new support networks and community. We run peer support circles giving mothers opportunities to connect, share honestly about their experiences, and learn new skills together which support wellbeing.

Steps to get it done:

• Arrange initial focus group to shape the content of the wellbeing group
• Deliver initial wellbeing group including evaluation session
• Use feedback from evaluation session to shape ongoing wellbeing group
• Deliver five further six-week wellbeing groups
• Plan and buy equipment for Maternal Journal sessions
• Plan and deliver 10 monthly mothers' yoga circles
• Plan and deliver 10 monthly Maternal Journal circles
• Plan and deliver 10 monthly writing circles
• Plan and deliver 10 monthly singing circles
• Deliver six six-weekly evening Maternal Journal groups

The weekly Maternal Journal group and the New Mothers Wellbeing group will run in six-week blocks. Our experience during our pilot suggests that these groups will see a regular rotation of participants, with predominantly new participants attending for each six-week course. Each of these groups accommodates 12 participants, and both groups were fully booked for most sessions during the pilot. There was some cross over between groups during the pilot, of women attending both of these groups. Monthly groups can hold 12-15 women and we anticipate perhaps more repeat attendance in these, with fluctuations according to people's availability. We anticipate 50% of each group being new participants and 50% being returning ones. We anticipate working with around 70-140 women through these groups during the project's first year. The amount we are crowdfunding for would fund these groups completely for 12 months, but we would hope to run them longer, pending future funding.