Amalia Ancuta.Counselling & Emotional Support

05/10/2025

22/07/2025

Your softness isn’t a flaw, it’s a gift.
Let yourself be gentle. Open. Honest.
That’s where your real strength lives.

16/06/2025

🦋 A friendly, supportive and inclusive space for expectant, new and not-so-new parents and caregivers to chat about the challenges of parenthood.

✨️ Drop in session, Tuesday 17th of June

Come in any time between 10.00-11.00

for coffee, tea, biscuits, and a friendly chat.

✨️ Babies and toddlers are welcome

📍Location:
The Intact Centre
49 Whitby Ave, Ingol,
Preston PR2 3YP

🗓 Upcoming dates:

17.06 at 10.00
01.07 at 10.00
15.07 at 10.00

Email Amalia with any questions:
✉️ pandas.preston@gmail.com

🦋 Parenthood can be beautiful, overwhelming, joyful, and isolating all at once.
If you are struggling with your mental health during pregnancy and postpartum, PANDAS Foundation is here to support you.

www.pandasfoundation.org.uk

05/05/2025

This week, for Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week, we’re creating space for conversations that matter.

To every mum who has felt unheard, unseen, or overlooked:

Your feelings are real.
Your experiences matter.
Your voice is your strength.

Speaking up about your mental health takes courage - and it deserves to be met with care, not judgment.
This week is Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week, we stand with every woman who has raised her voice to say:

"I am struggling."
"I need help."
"Please listen to me."

Share this to remind every mum: You are allowed to speak up. You are allowed to be heard.

If you need to speak to someone then please know that we are here for you. We exist for everyone struggling in their perinatal mental health...from conception through to birth & beyond ❤️ You are NOT alone and you can let us support you 🫂❤️

To use the WhatsApp service simply message 07903 508334 and you will be connected to one of our trained PANDAS volunteers. It is free and confidential for users of this service and is open from 8am – 10pm daily (with the exception of bank holidays when we are closed).

We also have a free bookable call back service over on our website at pandasfoundation.org.uk

For our email service write to supportme@pandasfoundation.org.uk…feel free write all your thoughts & feelings & we will get back to you within 72 hours, often sooner. You will be assigned with one of our amazing volunteers who will write back & forth with you as long as you need.

Details of our in person & online support groups are on our website along with details of all our services - pandasfoundation.org.uk (& link in bio)

Lots of love ❤️❤️


Perinatal Mental Health Partnership

03/03/2025

29/04/2024

Welcome to Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week!

The theme this year is Rediscovering You and the theme for today is Demystifying Perinatal Mental Illness.

Join us on our social media channels for these Information Sessions:

10am on our Instagram and Facebook- Demystifying Perinatal Mental Illness, and The Support Available To Help You Recover- with &

12pm on our Instagram - Cognitive Behavioural Therapy- What Is It & How Can It Help You In The Perinatal Period- with & Evie Canavan

1pm on our Instagram - Pregnancy Sickness & Hyperemesis Gravidarum- with & Evie Canavan

3pm on our Instagram- The Use Of Antidepressants In Pregnancy- with & Evie Canavan

maternalmhmattersweek

04/03/2024

Yes anxiety is a common and "normal" part of new motherhood, but that doesn't mean it's easy to live with. It also doesn't mean there aren't things you can do to reduce your anxiety and feel a bit better.

Some of the old tried and true interventions are the best:

Breathing in through your nose, slowly, out through your nose, a bit slower. (longer count)

Grounding yourself with a walk, a nice song, a moment of joy (butterfly, sunshine, reading) or the 5-4-3-2-1 exercise:

Name 5 things you can see
Name 4 things you can touch
Name 3 things you can hear.
Name 2 things you can smell.
Name 1 thing you can taste.

03/03/2024

🦋 Dear mum,

🌼 Please remember that there are no perfect mums. Mums are born, they grow and learn at the same time with their children.
🌼 You are doing great, especially on those days when you feel overwhelmed and you feel like giving up.
🌼 It is okay to cry. Crying lowers cortisol levels (the stress hormone) and calms your nervous system.
🌼 It is okay if sometimes you feel sad and miss versions of yourself, the ones before you became a mum.
🌼 You are the best mum for your children. Be kind to yourself and give yourself the care and love you need.

13/06/2023

🪻I am here for you.

If you need someone to talk to, if you feel low, if you feel lonely, tired, and overwhelmed, I am here for you.
You are not alone. I have been there. I understand.
I am here to offer you the support you need.

I offer a 15-minute free initial consultation. Book yours now.

01/05/2023

10/03/2023

🌼It's OK if you are feeling it all.
Be kind to yourself.

09/03/2023

*The days are long but the months fly by*

Time both stalls and speeds up when you're deep in the trenches of parenthood.

*You feel lonely, but you’re never alone*

As much as you love the cuddles, sometimes when you're feeling "touched out", you desperately crave space too.

*You’re in awe of your body and uncomfortable in your skin*

When you give birth, you're full of awe - at what your body can do, and what it did, to bring your baby into the world. Mixed with these feelings, however, are other feelings too. You feel torn between pride and discomfort, wanting to love your new body – and wanting your old self back, too. It's a grief we don't speak to often enough, despite how many of us feel this way.

*You say ‘this too shall pass,’ but you don’t want it to pass too quickly*

It's 2am. You've lost count of how many times you've crawled out of bed. You can't remember when you last slept a full two hours, unbroken. "This too shall pass," you say, as you shush and shush, rock and rock. "This too shall pass." And how quickly it does.

It's bittersweet though, this wishing away of time. As much as you want the challenging moments to pass, you don't want your baby to grow too quickly, either.

*You can feel completely invisible, and oh-so under the spotlight*

Feeling as though you've lost your identity, as though you no longer know who you are, is something many women encounter when they become mothers.

And yet, despite feeling lost and invisible at times, at other moments you can feel firmly under the spotlight, your every decision, every choice scrutinised. Whether it's a look when you're breastfeeding in the park, or a comment from a relative about using a dummy, your life is suddenly up for public discussion – and it's exhausting and demoralising.

*You crave nap-time, but you miss your bub*

If you've ever desperately wanted your baby to nap, only to spend the time looking at photos of them on your phone, then you're not alone.
And if photos just don't cut it, you've probably snuck back in to their room, despite the risk of the floorboards creaking, just for a glimpse at that sleepy little face.