In early 2024, MumsAid was delighted to announce the launch of a new mum’s group, specially curated for global majority and black mums.
This project was named by Mercy Browne, the project lead, and is called ‘Akwaaba’, meaning welcome in the Ghanaian language Twi. It is a transformative initiative aimed at addressing the critical gaps in mental health care for Black and global majority mothers during pregnancy and after birth. Research shows that this group of women face unique barriers that hinder access to timely and culturally sensitive maternal mental health support. Akwaaba is a specialised service that recognises and addresses these challenges, ultimately fostering improved mental health outcomes for mothers and their families. It also seeks to redress the imbalance of generic provision compared to dedicated global majority and black mum’s groups.
The service was designed and is led by Mercy Browne MSc, a specialist Perinatal Mental Health Nurse. It offers a weekly group session where women can bring their children and receive peer and mental health support, and also access to free one-on-one counselling sessions with Black and global majority counsellors.
Hear more from Mercy about the group in this interview on the MumsAid YouTube channel.
So far, the group has been a great success, with mums sharing comments such as:
“I have had a nurturing and nourishing experience there – experiencing the group leader as a magical maternal presence.”
“I feel well supported and much less anxious, seeing others improve also makes me happier. I feel a lot less isolated and I feel more hopeful. I’m less worried and anxious about giving birth again.”
“At first when I join the Akwaaba Group, I was feeling down and lost but later I saw and learnt that all hope is not lost and there’s a reason to live.”
“I have improved myself, I am not as worried as much as I used to be, happy to know that the Akwaaba group on Wednesday is here.”
“My experience at Akwaaba was great. I have found a good support network.”
This service is only available for mothers living in the borough of Greenwich. Please contact us to join the group:
Telephone: 07758 763908
E-mail: info@mums-aid.org
Where to go:
Cardwell Children’s Centre, Frances Street, Woolwich, London, SE18 5LP
