About The House of Light
The need for House of Light was identified following our own experiences of the horrendous illness that is Postnatal Depression (PND). We realised that there was a huge lack of awareness, information and help available for mothers going through PND.
We realised the possible devastating effects PND brings, however we realised the importance and benefit that being able to talk to someone who had recovered from the illness also helped immensely and gave so much hope that in time you can recover.
We believe no woman should have to suffer in silence, 1:7 women are affected (although this could actually be as high as 1:5 as some women are ashamed to seek help). 40 women commit suicide each year in the UK from PND.
We believe this has to change - no one should lose their mother/sister/daughter/wife to PND.
House of Light campaign with positive media activities to change the public's perceptions of PND and remove the stigma that is so wrongly attached to the illness. This is in the hope more women will seek help and get treatment quickly; this reduces the illness' possible devastating effects.
We provide education to Health Care professionals to be able to detect the illness asap and refer a woman to us so we can offer support.
We provide home visits - a woman with PND often feels unable to leave home, increasing the feelings of isolation and making depression worse. By offering home visits this overcomes this obstacle and women get support they need. We provide written information to mothers and partners and also by talking and listening we can help mothers.
We also are aware that PND can affect the whole family unit, so we offer extended family and partner’s information and someone to talk to, to help them and to help them to support the mother.
We provide an out of hours free phone support line. We are the only 0800 Number in England for PND and take calls from all across the UK.
We also provide email support for those women that find phone or face - face contact difficult. We have had an enquiry from as far as Sweden.
We provide a weekly drop in facility where mums can meet other mums affected by the illness and realise that they are not alone. They receive support from us, we also have 2 nursery nurses giving mums some much needed respite but also to give babies and toddlers stimulation through play and activities. It is known that if PND is untreated it can have lasting effects on a child’s emotional and cognitive development (especially so in deprived areas).
We also have a qualified reflexologist at the drop in providing massage as an alternative therapy and giving mums some much needed TLC.
We also have links to two qualified baby masseuse's that will visit mothers and teach baby massage to help mother - child bond.
From our previous backgrounds we also have a vast knowledge of other services that are available to women and their families and can access other possible sources of help - i.e housing, practical family support, domestic violence support etc that will help the woman and her family.
Contact Us
Joanne Morton & Karan Cunningham
HOUSE OF LIGHT
c/o Living Hope Christian Church
Linnaeus Street
Hull
HU3 2QA
Email: help@pndsupport.co.uk
Website: http://www.pndsupport.co.uk/