The psychological impact of neonatal care: a collaboration with Bliss

Davy and Ruth
Jan 12
2 min read

We are really pleased to share the result of a recent collaboration with Bliss - the charity for babies born premature or sick. We were approached by Bliss to work on their recent campaign to raise awareness of the psychological impact of neonatal care, and what can be done to address this. One of the things that we really liked about this was that Bliss have been openly talking about how the psychological impact of neonatal care needs to be seen through the lens of health inequalities. That physical and mental health care is not a level playing field is an uncomfortable reality to acknowledge and accept, especially for people whose lives are less directly impacted. But it is a lived reality for many people accessing neonatal services, and one with very real consequences. It is such an important conversation.

As part of their campaign, Bliss have recently launched a series of short videos discussing, from different perspectives, the psychological impact of neonatal care, and some of the things that can be done to help. These videos include:

testimonials from parents who have lived experience of neonatal care, focusing particularly on what these parents would have wanted staff to know about their feelings at the time, what made them feel emotionally safe and what they feel staff can do to build a trusting relationships.
two videos produced by Black Mothers Matter, a fabulous organisation who support and celebrate Black pregnancies. One video explores some of the key themes that underpin how Family Integrated Care can be approach in a way that is accessible and inclusive to all. The second video offers some very practical ideas for how professionals can approach their FICare practice through an anti-racist lens.
a series of three videos produced with us in which Davy discusses:
- the relational and psychological impact of a neonatal admission and what can be done to support parents and healthcare professionals
- how this psychological impact can be compounded by experiences of marginalisation
- how neonatal teams can create conditions to support positive relationships and what is needed to enable this.

We were delighted to be able to contribute to Bliss's project in this way, and hope that you find something helpful in amongst the resources that have been developed.

We have embedded the videos below and you can also find them on the Bliss website.

Parent Testimony

Parents' experiences of the psychological impact of a neonatal stay