Posted on 24th October 2025
Maternal Mental Health Matters
Have you recently had a baby? Are you finding some aspects of motherhood challenging or difficult? Becoming a mum can be a huge adjustment, and research shows it is common for mums to struggle with anxiety or low mood after having a baby. 
Our Mum's Talk group is a safe, welcoming and confidential space to offer you support, the opportunity to meet other mums with similar experiences and feelings and learn some strategies to manage symptoms of low mood and anxiety. The groups are run from family centres in Gateshead, and you can bring your baby with you.
If you would like to secure a place, please call Gateshead Talking Therapies on 0191 2832541
You can also self-refer online by Clicking Here
Deckham Family Hub Elgin Centre: Elgin Road. Gateshead. NE9 5PA: Tuesdays 1pm-3pm
You can view the map location of our Mums Talk Therapy Support Group held at Deckham Family Hub
Blaydon & Winlaton Children's Centre: Shibdon Bank, Blaydon-on-Tyne NE21 5EZ: Thursdays 1-3pm
You can view the map location of our Mums Talk Therapy Support Group held at Blaydon & Winlaton Children's Centre
This is a therapy group aimed to help new mums explore their thoughts, feelings and behaviour that may be impacting upon their mood and well-being, and their experience of motherhood.
Some of the topics that we aim to cover are:
- Symptoms of anxiety and depression and their common nature after having a baby
- The challenges of new motherhood vs how we ‘expected’ motherhood to be
- Understanding how babies communicate and how their brains develop
- Unhelpful thinking and thought challenging skills
- Behaviour changes and depression which may occur and after having a baby
- Worry and strategies to reduce this
- Life before and after having a baby (who am I now?) and meeting your own personal needs too.
- The physical effects of anxiety and ideas of how to start overcoming anxiety
- Exploring support networks and how to communicate effectively with others.
We will not pressure anyone to contribute or share personal experiences, although people will be supported to contribute as they feel comfortable to.
In session 1 we discuss ground rules, including a non-judgemental environment and respecting each other’s views.
We aim for this to be a supportive environment and people often join in more than they think they will.
Yes, your baby is very welcome, and we encourage mums to bring their babies. We run the group from local Family Hubs. The room has baby mats and toys, and we will sit together in a baby group environment. There are change facilities and we will support you in responding to your baby’s needs as required. You are also able to breast feed during the session, if you feel comfortable to do so.
We have prepared handouts for every session so if you need to ‘dip out’ of a session to care for your baby you won’t miss anything. You can read about it later, and we are always happy to answer any questions you may have.
The only times we would suggest not bringing your baby is:
- If he or she is a good crawler or walker, as it may be difficult for you to focus. You are still welcome, but you may gain more from the course if you have a supportive person who could look after your baby during this time.
- We would also ask you to leave your baby with a parent/carer if they were feeling unwell to avoid passing on any illness to other parents or children.
This group is a great opportunity to work on the difficulties you are experiencing in a supportive therapy environment with other new mothers who are also having similar problems.
Often Mum’s report difficulties about going into baby groups as they can feel quite ‘cliquey’ or there can be a fear of judgement from others, or it may appear that everyone else makes it look easy.
This group is a chance to be in a welcoming environment, to help you learn new coping strategies, share your difficulties and potentially meet some other new mums along the way.