About Us

Guernsey Post-Natal Depression Support Group is a Registered Charity (no.416) and was initially set up by local women, some of whom had suffered from PND themselves.

Our primary aim is to provide support for those suffering from PND, as well as their relatives and friends and increase awareness to reduce any stigma that may remain about suffering from or receiving help for PND.

A UK poll of 1,000 mothers and pregnant women found that 42% had never told their doctor or midwife about their symptoms of depression as they felt guilty, embarrassed or worried that others would judge them, think them mentally ill and take their children away. In a small community here in Guernsey, we are only too aware of how a stigma can prevent people from seeking the help they need.

Our support group can:

  • Listen
  • Empathise
  • Arrange to meet with you/your family
  • Offer Practical Support
  • Suggest Coping Methods
  • Reassure you
  • Put you in contact with other new mums
  • Provide peer support with our closed group online so you can talk to other mums who are experiencing/have experienced PND.

 

Our volunteers offer support alongside that available from your GP and other health care professionals. Visiting your GP is of paramount importance. Our volunteers are viable to help support you with visiting the GP.

The second aim of our Charity is to facilitate links with our local health professionals and PND experts from the UK and further afield, who will be invited to enhance on- island understanding of the condition and provide networking opportunities where appropriate.

With the help of a qualified professional from the UK, we hope to set up a service that will act as an informal support structure to those individuals who have progressed positively in the treatment of their condition and are able to meet in a group.

We have engaged and are supported by treatment providers within HSSD and local GPs as well as other related services such as Midwives, Health Visitors and other groups whose target audience we share but for different support (such as Priaulx Premature Baby Foundation/ IVF parents, etc.).

Our Set Up

We are comprised of a Committee who deal with the administration and strategy plans of the organisation, as well as the all important Volunteer Team who are responsible for providing peer support services for PND sufferers and their families.

We adhere to the principles of Confidentiality, Security and Safe Guarding in all aspects of running of the charity.

Guernsey PND Support Group is registered under and compliant with the Data Protection (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law 2001. As such we give our pledge that details that we hold about individuals are never and will never be shared unless we are legally required to do so.

If you wish to find out more about the Charity and it's constitution, Committee and the individuals, or the Volunteers and their work, please get in touch: [email protected]

Our Sponsors

We are grateful to our Sponsor's ABN AMRO and Two Degrees North for their help in supporting us to create our new website. Without their generosity this site would not exist and sufferers of PND, their families and friends and our charity would be denied an important communication and awareness raising tool.

Volunteering

Volunteers Required

Guernsey Post-Natal Depression Support Group is looking for volunteers to help us in providing support to those affected by post-natal depression, raising awareness and facilitating links with professionals.

If you have a good understanding of how post-natal depression can affect sufferers and their families, empathy, and are able to spare at least one hour per week, please email us at [email protected]

Training is provided for these unpaid roles.

Treasurer Required

Our current Treasurer has done a wonderful job of supporting our Charity since inception and is now ready to hand over the reign's to someone else.

As Treasurer, you would be required to prepare basic accounts, help with budgets and forecasts and drive the charity forward. This would ideally someone qualified but we are happy to accept someone with relevant experience and strategic thinking.

This is an un-paid role.

Please email us at [email protected] for more information.