National charity for women and families affected by postpartum psychosis working in Lancashire wins top UK health award

Action on Postpartum Psychosis (APP) is the only UK charity – and one of just a few worldwide – dedicated to supporting mothers affected by postpartum psychosis, a severe but treatable mental illness that begins following childbirth.

Approximately 1,200 women experience postpartum psychosis each year in the UK: on average it affects 1 to 2 in every 1,000 births and often occurs out of the blue to women with no previous history of mental illness. Symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, mania, paranoia, inability to sleep, depression and unusual behaviour, often beginning within days of childbirth.

With the right care, most women go on to make a full recovery, but postpartum psychosis can be extremely frightening for women and their families. It can take 12 months to three years to fully recover, and there is an ongoing risk of relapse. Public understanding of the illness remains low, and women can experience stigma and isolation.

APP won the award for designing services that place women and their families experiencing the sometimes devastating impact of postpartum psychosis at their heart, including its peer support service which supports over 1,000 people a year. The award judges were also particularly struck by APP’s work to campaign for more Mother and Baby Units (MBUs) in NHS hospitals to improve care for women requiring inpatient treatment in a psychiatric hospital setting who would previously have been separated from their babies.

Following a rigorous selection and assessment process, Action on Postpartum Psychosis was chosen from a record number of award entries as one of the 10 winners of the 2025 GSK IMPACT Awards. Now in its 28th year, the awards are delivered in partnership with leading health and care charity The King’s Fund.

The awards are widely seen as a mark of excellence in the charity health sector and are designed to recognise outstanding small and medium-sized charities working to improve people’s health and wellbeing in the UK. As an award winner, APP will now receive £40,000 in unrestricted funding as well as a place on a highly sought-after leadership development programme provided by The King’s Fund.

According to 2023 data, deaths from mental health related causes account for more than one third of all deaths occurring within a year after the end of pregnancy, with maternal suicide remaining the leading cause of deaths in this period. During an episode of postpartum psychosis, urgent psychiatric admission is often required for the safety of mother and baby.

Historically, women in many areas of the UK experiencing postpartum psychosis were admitted to general psychiatric wards and separated from their babies. Staff often lacked specialist training and women reported feeling traumatised and unsupported.

APP was set up in 2011 to ensure all women and families affected by postpartum psychosis could access reliable information and support. The charity is small but growing and its work is supported by over 170 volunteers who, like the majority of the charity’s staff and board, have personal experience of the illness.

APP runs a peer support online forum, connecting over 3,000 women and families throughout the UK, provides one-to-one email and video call support, and runs 10 regional monthly café groups, as well as online groups for dads and co-parents, grandparents, Muslim women, LGBTQ+ parents, and creative and wellbeing sessions.

The charity also trains health care professionals, including perinatal mental health teams, GPs, midwives and health visitors on recognising postpartum psychosis, and delivers an annual free webinar for health care professionals on preventing maternal suicide, funded by the partner of a woman with postpartum psychosis who took her own life.

Much of APP’s work has been campaigning to increase the number of Mother and Baby Units (MBUs), which provide specialist inpatient psychiatric care to new mothers. APP is currently contracted by three NHS hospital trusts to embed its Peer Support teams in Birmingham, Manchester and Chorley Mother and Baby Units. Recovered mums spend time helping mothers and family members on the ward, supporting their transition home, and ensuring follow-on support through its regional community café groups.

The charity was instrumental in campaigning with an alliance of charity partners to secure the opening of the first MBU in Wales. Its volunteers have also helped to input into the design and staff training in the Wales unit, the Chorley unit and a new MBU serving the Wirral and North Wales, due to open in 2025. The charity has also run a long-term campaign to highlight the need for provision in Northern Ireland – the only part of the UK without an MBU – and in 2023 the Department of Health confirmed a unit would be opened in Belfast.

The award judges praised the charity for reaching families at an earlier stage of illness, including pregnancy, and planning for those at high risk of developing postpartum psychosis or a relapse. Annual evaluation survey data collected by APP in 2023 found 96% of the women who responded felt less isolated and nearly half (46%) said they might not be alive if they had not found APP's peer support service.

While the financial context in which charities operate is increasingly challenging, the award judges were struck by Action on Postpartum Psychosis’s commitment to continuing to grow its partnerships with the NHS and its input into the development of a broader alliance of other organisations. The strength of these partnerships has enabled APP to run impactful public awareness campaigns for better care and to reduce stigma and misinformation about postpartum psychosis.

Katie Pinnock, Director, UK Charitable Partnerships at GSK, said: ‘Action on Postpartum Psychosis is the only national charity exclusively supporting mothers and families affected by this frightening and sometimes devastating illness. APP’s strength lies in its unique integration of lived experience into its work, ensuring that women’s voices directly shape the charity’s work and wider services.

‘Through its powerful partnerships with the NHS, dedicated volunteers, and a focused approach to reaching those in greatest need, APP continues to lead the way in offering help and raising awareness among both the public and health professionals to make a lasting difference.’

Commenting on the award, Dr Jess Heron, CEO of Action on Postpartum Psychosis, said: ‘We are delighted to be recognised by GSK and The King’s Fund.

Our work brings together expertise from women and families with personal experience, academics and clinicians to raise awareness, support recovery, train professionals and campaign for mental health services for new mums. So much has changed over the past ten years, but we still have much work to do.

This award will help us grow and reach more women affected by this frightening illness. Challenging stigma and misinformation and raising awareness is essential to make sure women can access rapid, appropriate care.’

Developing leaders in the charity sector is a key aim of the GSK IMPACT Awards programme and all winners are invited to build on their success and take part in a tailored leadership development programme run by The King’s Fund.