Helix: A new maternal mental health service in south east London
A new maternal mental health service is now open in the boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark, Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich.
Helix (Healing Experiences of Loss & Trauma) a specialist therapeutic service supporting those who have experienced the devastating loss of a pregnancy, or death of a baby, between conception and the end of the first year of life, and who are experiencing moderate to severe mental health difficulty as a result.
Services provided by Helix include:
- Individual or group evidence-based psychological therapy, including partners and family members in therapy for the woman/birthing person as appropriate
- Peer support either within the Helix Service or in the community
- Co-working with referrers and related health professionals
Are you a health professional?
Helix will accept referrals from any health professional.
- To make a referral for women or birthing people who live in Southwark or Lambeth please use the electronic referral form here;
- To make a referral for women or birthing people who live in Bexley, Bromley or Greenwich email Oxl-tr.Helix@nhs.net
The newly establish Helix service joins other services that are available to support women and birthing people experiencing mental health difficulties during the perinatal period. South east London has well established specialist perinatal mental health community teams that provide specialist help and support to women experiencing significant mental health difficulties in pregnancy and postpartum across Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark. This includes support with parent-infant attachment and bonding and access to counselling for women and birthing people who may be experiencing existing mental health difficulties as they plan for future pregnancies.
Find out more:
If your service would be interested in a visit from the team to share more details about the service and answer any questions, please email helixreferrals@slam.nhs.uk (Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham & Southwark) and Oxl-tr.Helix@nhs.net (Bexley, Bromley & Greenwich) to arrange.
Helix is not currently open to residents who live in the boroughs of Lewisham and Croydon, but the team are working hard to make it available over the coming weeks and months. Please refer to the SLAM website for updates.
For further information, please visit:
South London and Maudsley – Healing Experience of Loss and Trauma Service
Oxleas – Healing Experience of Loss and Trauma Service
Download the information flyer for specialist community mental health provision at Oxleas
Find out more about how we work in partnership with organisations across south east London.