You don't need a perinatal background to join Mothering Minds. If you're a qualified therapist without specific perinatal experience, we'll consider your application once you've built a solid grounding in the field. This page explains what we're looking for and where you might find it.

What we're looking for

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At least 20 hours of perinatal-focused CPD in the last three years, covering:

• perinatal depression and anxiety
• birth trauma
• perinatal risk (for example intrusive thoughts, postpartum psychosis and safeguarding)

At least 6 of those hours should be live and interactive (in person or online, with discussion, case work or practice built in), not only recorded.

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Your CPD can come from any provider. The options below are suggestions, not a required route.

Already have strong adjacent experience? If you've worked for years in infant mental health, birth trauma, or a closely related area, our Clinical Lead may accept this in place of some training hours. This is considered case by case, so tell us about it in your application.

What to send with your application

Certificates, or a CPD log showing for each activity:

• the provider and title
• the date
• the number of hours
• whether it was live or recorded
• which of the three areas it covered

Suggested training and CPD

Formats, hours and prices change, so please check the current details with each provider.

Broad perinatal mental health

• Pearl Perinatal — training — Foundation of Perinatal Practice (a day-long course), plus shorter on-demand sessions in their Understanding and Masterclass series.
• Tavistock and Portman — perinatal mental health — including A Brief Introduction to Perinatal Mental Health and Perinatal Mental Health, Risk, Care and Treatment (a good fit for the risk requirement).
• NHS e-Learning for Healthcare — Perinatal Mental Health programme — free online modules covering perinatal mental health, parent–infant mental health and birth trauma. Mainly for NHS staff; independent practitioners can access the same content via eIntegrity for a small fee. Recorded, so it won't count towards your live hours.
• Postpartum Support International — professional education — perinatal mental health training, including live courses that form part of their PMH-C certification pathway. US-based, with online options.
• Seleni Institute — courses — reproductive and maternal mental health courses, including perinatal mood and anxiety and perinatal loss.