Dr Andy Mayers

15/08/2025

Thanks to for sharing. It's been an honour to be part of this inspirational and influential team

Posted • This week, we are introducing individual members of our PMHP team. Today is... Andy

💜Andy - South of England 💜

Andy is a retired academic with an interest in perinatal mental health. He has been involved in lots of research for both mothers and fathers mental health and continues to support this where he can.

Pop over to our page to meet the rest of our team that we have introduced throughout the week 👀

12/06/2025

Thank you Hannah .based.hannah for your impressive effort to raise funds for us at

Posted • A massive thank you to .based.hannah! 🙌 She just conquered her SECOND challenge, climbing Ben Nevis, all to raise funds for Dorset Mind.
What a superstar❗ We're so incredibly grateful.

12/06/2025

Wow! Thank you Hannah. A truly epic effort to raise much needed funds for us at Dorset Mind

A massive thank you to Hannah! 🙌 She just conquered her SECOND challenge, climbing Ben Nevis, all to raise funds for Dorset Mind.
What a superstar❗ We're so incredibly grateful.



Dr Andy Mayers Mind

05/06/2025

As Patron for , I am proud and indebted to all our volunteers



Posted • Happy Volunteer Week! 🌟

A huge shout-out to all our incredible Dorset Mind volunteers. Your time and passion are everything, helping us Connect, Change & Support Minds and make mental health discussions more open. We appreciate you more than words can say❗

21/05/2025

Please could you help my PhD student with her latest study (focusing on breastfeeding experience). Either by taking part (if fitting the criteria) or sharing across your networks.

Posted • Have you given birth between 2018–2023 and felt your wish to breastfeed was dismissed by healthcare professionals?

We’re looking for mothers to take part in a Bournemouth University study exploring how dismissive attitudes towards breastfeeding preferences may impact wellbeing and potentially cause trauma responses.

Who can take part?
• Mothers aged 18+
• Gave birth between 2018–2023
• Wanted to breastfeed (including mixed feeding) but felt unsupported or dismissed by healthcare staff

What’s involved?
A short, confidential interview with the lead researcher to discuss your experiences.

Interested?
Email Abi Wheeler at awheeler@bournemouth.ac.uk or scan the QR code on the image for more info.

07/05/2025

So pleased to share this story for , as founding member of Perinatal Mental Health Partnership, Patron for Dorset Mind and Trustee for Dorset Parent Infant Partnership

23/04/2025

If this applies to you, please help my friend

Posted • I'm writing 😁

I've increasingly seen a lot of posts where parents have made the decision (because they wanted to or circumstances meant they needed to) have an only child.

Sometimes this is an entirely positive decision and other times it can bring all sorts of emotions because of the reasons leading to that decision (or it not feeling like a decision at all).

This worry is often driven by myths around only children and the need for siblings in life and that doesn't match up to the actual evidence at all. I wanted to write something that really delved into this and provides reassurance and here we are.

I'd love to be able to add the experiences of those who have an only child and make sure that I'm including all the reasons behind why parents might have an only child.

If you can spare 10 minutes ish to help shape this book I'd love to include those experiences. I'll put everyone who wants to leave details into a draw to win one of 5 x £10 amazon vouchers.

[totally biased here as I'm an only child and obviously fabulous 🥸]

Link to survey is in my bio and I'll add it to my stories. Thank you!

04/04/2025

Excited to share more information about our Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week Week

Posted • Would you like to show your support for Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week which takes place this year between 5th-11th May? If so, place this frame around your social media profile pic ! Drop us a DM with a photo and we will make one for you.

We are delighted to reveal that the Resource Pack for this year’s Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week will go live on 07/04/24.

This will include templates for you to use in the Week, details of organisations who provide help and support in the perinatal period and details of our online Information Sessions.

Thank you to our wonderful Co-Founder for designing this years frame!

01/04/2025

Our friends at Hive & Partners are hosting another edition of the HIVEtastic Quiz, in aid of Dorset Mind 🤩

💙Join us for an evening of fun at the HIVEtastic Quiz 2025:

Date: Thursday 24th April 2025.
Location: Wimborne Town FC, 16 Ainsley Road, Wimborne BH21 2FU.
Time: 6:30pm for food, 7:30pm quiz starts.
Price: £15.00 per quizzer (teams of 4 to 8) including food.

Alongside the quiz, there will be a fantastic raffle, a hot meal and prizes for the winning team and the best team name❗

✉️Email: rf@hiveandpartners.co.uk to register your team
All bookings must be confirmed no later than Wednesday 16th April 2025.



Dr Andy Mayers Mind

21/03/2025

Delighted to share our latest publication from 's PhD, focusing on and

Read full article via Linktree link on my Instagram profile, or go to https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/13/6/672

21/03/2025

Well done Abi Wheeler - another really useful paper from your PhD.

This is one I’ve been wondering about for a while. How do experiences of birth and breastfeeding combine?

This study looked at how the feeding experiences of women who identified as having a traumatic birth then affected their wellbeing.

Short version - a good breastfeeding experience could be healing whilst a challenging one could make things even worse by compounding all the feelings around a difficult birth. A difficult birth as we know can unfortunately set breastfeeding up to be more difficult.

It shows the need to look at combinations of experiences and to support women from the start. Supporting breastfeeding well (amongst women who want to) is also an opportunity to help heal some of the trauma from a difficult birth

https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/13/6/672?fbclid=IwY2xjawJKYipleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHaDryOAw8hxMouAtaTdzBBGoPt3yl71W0NliNY_WiRspNWWoHxfu7gLrOw_aem_09bAZYSnYWr5YO94S8SekA