Specialist Midwife for Maternal Mental Health

Job responsibilities

This is an exciting opportunity to join our newly established Maternal Mental Health Service (MMHS), funded by NHS England, and help shape the future of trauma-informed maternity care across County Durham and Darlington.

As the Specialist Midwife for Maternal Mental Health, you will provide specialist support to women and birthing people experiencing mental health difficulties associated with pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period. This includes supporting women who have experienced birth trauma, perinatal loss, fear of childbirth (tokophobia), or other psychological difficulties related to their maternity experience.

Working as part of a multidisciplinary team, you will undertake holistic assessments, develop individualised care plans and coordinate care across maternity, neonatal, perinatal mental health, primary care and community services. You will work closely with women and their families to ensure they receive compassionate, person-centred care that meets their individual needs.

A key aspect of the role is acting as the link between maternity services and mental health services, ensuring women experience seamless care and timely access to specialist support. You will attend multidisciplinary meetings, contribute to complex case discussions and work collaboratively with colleagues and partner agencies to improve outcomes for women, babies and families.

Alongside your clinical role, you will support the wider maternity workforce by providing advice, education and guidance on maternal mental health, trauma-informed care and referral pathways. You will help increase staff confidence in recognising and responding to psychological distress and contribute to developing a culture where emotional wellbeing is recognised as an integral part of maternity care.

You will also contribute to the ongoing development of this new service through quality improvement, audit, evaluation and implementation of evidence-based practice. Working with colleagues across the Trust and wider system, you will help develop pathways, identify opportunities for improvement and ensure the service continues to meet NHS England standards and deliver high-quality care.

This role offers the opportunity to make a genuine difference to the lives of women and families while helping to establish an innovative service that places compassionate, equitable and trauma-informed care at the heart of every maternity journey.

Special Skills & Knowledge

Essential

• Knowledge of maternal mental health difficulties and their impact on women, babies and families.
• Knowledge of trauma-informed care and its application in maternity services.
• Knowledge of safeguarding processes for adults and babies.
• Understanding of the role of multidisciplinary working in supporting perinatal mental health.
• Knowledge of local and national guidance relating to maternal mental health and maternity services.
• Understanding of factors affecting access to and engagement with services.
• Ability to undertake holistic assessments and contribute to care planning for women with complex needs.
• Ability to communicate sensitively with women, families and professionals regarding complex or distressing issues.
• Ability to build therapeutic relationships and provide supportive interventions within scope of practice.
• Ability to work collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team.
• Ability to coordinate care across services.
• Ability to provide advice and support to colleagues.
• Good organisational and time-management skills.
• Ability to maintain accurate clinical records.
• Competent IT skills including use of electronic records systems.
• Ability to work autonomously within scope of practice.
• Ability to manage competing demands and prioritise workload.
• Ability to work flexibly across clinical settings.
• Ability to maintain professional boundaries.
• Ability to manage emotionally challenging situations.
• Ability to recognise and escalate risk appropriately.
• Ability to contribute positively to team working and service development.

Desirable

• Knowledge of NHS England Maternal Mental Health Service guidance.
• Knowledge of parentinfant relationships and attachment.
• Knowledge of local care pathways and community support services.
• Awareness of equality, diversity and inclusion issues affecting access to care.
• Skills in delivering training or education to staff.
• Skills in supporting reflective practice or debrief discussions.
• Experience supporting psychologically informed or trauma-informed practice.
• Experience presenting information to groups.
• Ability to contribute to service improvement initiatives.
• Ability to support development of pathways and guidance.
• Ability to support staff wellbeing and psychologically safe environments.

Qualifications

Essential

• Registered Midwife with current NMC registration.
• Evidence of continuing professional development.
• Relevant post-registration training in perinatal or maternal mental health, trauma-informed care or safeguarding.
• Willingness to undertake further specialist training relevant to the Maternal Mental Health Service.

Desirable

• Additional qualifications or training in perinatal mental health, psychological trauma, bereavement care or infant mental health.
• Training in supporting women following birth trauma or perinatal loss.
• Teaching or mentorship qualification

Experience

Essential

• Experience working as a midwife across pregnancy and postnatal care.
• Experience supporting women with complex psychosocial or mental health needs in the perinatal period.
• Experience working within a multidisciplinary team.
• Experience contributing to care planning for women with additional needs.
• Experience liaising with other services and agencies to support women and families.

Desirable

• Experience working within a specialist maternal or perinatal mental health service.
• Experience supporting women experiencing birth trauma, tokophobia or perinatal loss.
• Experience delivering training or education to staff.
• Experience contributing to audit, service evaluation or quality improvement activity.
• Experience working with diverse communities and addressing health inequalities.

Statutory Registration

Essential

• UK NMC PIN

Special Requirements

Essential

• Commitment to compassionate and inclusive service delivery.
• Willingness to undertake training.
• Commitment to equality and diversity.
• Willingness to travel across sites if required.
• Flexible approach to working.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).