Building Attachment and Bonds Service (BABS)

Who we are

Relationships are Everything!

Sometimes things can get in the way of you enjoying your relationship with your baby, such as depression, anxiety, a difficult birth, worries about your baby, or your own parenting experience and difficult events from the past. Having a baby can activate so many of our own insecurities and vulnerabilities as parents.

By offering specialist, therapeutic parent-infant mental health support during pregnancy and in the postnatal period – we can help parents to 'separate out' their own past and present struggles and issues, which without this specialist support, can have a huge impact on the parent-infant bond, relationship and mental health of both.

We believe that most parents want to be ‘the best possible parent they can be to their baby’ (and be a better parent than their own parents!). We want to support parents to build secure attachments and loving bonds with their babies, and go onto break tough negative life cycles which get in the way of what is the most important relationship – the parent infant relationship.

We provide easy to engage, non-judgemental parent-infant therapy and support, for pregnant women, new parents and their partners, who struggle with their emotional wellbeing, other vulnerabilities, and who have concerns about their bonding and relationship with their baby. We are a team of clinical psychologists parent infant therapists and multi-disciplinary professionals and volunteers who are passionate and committed to supporting parents in the Knowsley and Sefton communities.

Again, we are specialists in supporting parents/carers and infants with their mental health, emotional wellbeing and struggles from their babies and building happy, secure and loving relationships with their babies. Sessions are offered to families either in the family home or in the community.

Sefton

Our service is for parents and carers in Sefton who are pregnant or have a baby up to three months at the time of referral and be registered with a GP or living in Sefton.Referrals need to be made via any professional working with the parent, such as a health visitor, midwife, family nurse, GP, Social Worker, Early Help worker We welcome telephone enquiries to discuss suitability prior to referral.

Please call us on 07787 277 524 if you would like to arrange this.

Meet The Team

We welcome telephone enquiries to discuss suitability prior to referral. Please call us on 07787 277 524 if you would like to arrange this.

We work closely with health colleagues and care professionals to make sure families are fully supported.

We work in partnership with:

• Liverpool Women’s Hospital
• St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospital
• Ormskirk Maternity Hospital
• Perinatal and mental health services
• Sefton Breastfeeding team
• GPs
• Well-being Centres and Family Hubs
• Children’s Social Care
• Local Early Help Services
• IAPT Services
• Third Sector and Voluntary Organisations
• CAMHS.

Referrals can be made by any professional such as a health visitor, midwife, family nurse, GP, Social Worker, Early Help Worker.

Information for professionals

For information on how to refer in Southport and Formby and South Sefton. Visit our GP and referrers sections.

We welcome telephone enquiries to discuss suitability prior to referral. Please call us on 07787 277 524 if you would like to arrange this. Referrals can be sent to mcn-tr.babssefton@nhs.net

In addition to the clinical support we provide to families, we offer specialist parent infant mental health training and consultation to multi-agency professionals locally.