Local charity providing peer support for Tameside parents

'With You in Mind' delivers peer support for those within the perinatal phase of their parenting journey.

The charity offers multiple sessions across four different boroughs of Greater Manchester, with an opportunity for Tameside residents to meet each Tuesday morning at Ryecroft Hall in Audenshaw between 10am and 11:30am.

With attendance free of charge, the session aims to provide a supportive space for families to access support, while also holding the vision of inviting parents to come together and share their experiences to prevent them feeling isolated.

Victoria Castellani-Shelley, who runs the group, said: "Our Tameside branch has only been going for a matter of weeks, but we've been able to support six families up to now which we're really proud of. 

"We just really want to try and get the word out there that people can just walk in and we'll help them, they don't have to go through any formalities or contact us beforehand. 

"We want to come across as informal and welcoming - we don't have a specific structure to our sessions, they're not planned out. We just meet the needs of the parents as they show up and tailor our support to whatever each family needs on that particular day. 

"We provide breakfast snacks and resources for the children as well as stimulating activities for them, but we want to emphasize that we are a support group rather than a play group. 

"I'm really passionate about the work we do, it was my own perinatal mental health experiences really that brought me into this sector of work. I used to refer to myself as an 'anxious person', but over the last four years I have been on a path of understanding and self-reflection. 

"I experienced postnatal after my second daughter was born and it turned my whole world upside down, but actually gave me a kick start to address this whole label of 'I'm an anxious person'. I no longer refer to myself as being anxious, I acknowledge that I experience anxiety from time to time, which is a normal innate feeling and when this happens it's a sign I need to slow down, be gentle with myself and that my mind is in a lower state of consciousness & it will pass. Which it does." 

"I want to normalise the experiences that we all go through on our parenting journeys." 

With You in Mind is funded by Home-Start HOST and poses as one of their resources. Their aim is trying to develop group work which reaches the wider community. 

You are able to come and go as you please within the allotted time, specialist staff members and volunteers are on hand throughout the duration of the session. You can contact victoriacastellanishelley@homestarthost.org.uk for more information.