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Mental Health Fellowship award holder Ruth Naughton-Doe shares a video called 'Where is the village that was promised?' that focuses on perinatal loneliness.

Where is the village that was promised?

* This film has a content warning for reference to perinatal loss*

This film presents nine animations based on the experiences of the 58 parents who took part in research exploring solutions to perinatal loneliness, which is loneliness that happens during pregnancy and up to two years post-birth, including for parents who adopt.

The stories are fictional but are based on the accounts of parents who shared the times they felt most lonely. The characters represent a range of experiences told through the eyes of the storyteller. Each story is separated by the image of an eye opening and closing.

We hope these clips and our film will raise awareness of what leads to feelings of loneliness including poverty, discrimination, unrealistic expectations put on parents, inadequate support, and being excluded. We hope that after watching this film, some people will realise they are not alone in feeling lonely.

Perinatal loneliness is linked with mental health problems and we need to change things for the wide range of people who feel lonely in the perinatal period. Our research has identified potential solutions for loneliness. These include: funding more professional support, changing our society to be more family friendly and offer more support for mothers, fathers and non-birthing parents, ensuring our services are inclusive, and providing more opportunities for parents to connect with others, including creating safe spaces for those who might experience discrimination, such as LGBTQ+ families, young parents, ethnic and religious minority parents, and parents experiencing mental illness.

You can find out more information about these solutions by reading our report available on www.perinatal-loneliness.com

This film was made by Caroline Boyd - Boy oh Boy Designs.

Watch the video on YouTube