Postnatal mental health support in Ireland: how to get help

You do not need a referral to be listened to

Ireland has two separate things going on: services you can contact yourself, right now, without a referral, and clinical services you reach through your GP or public health nurse. Confusing them is why people wait when they should not.

This page is about getting help. Whether and when someone asks how you are at a routine check is a different question with a different answer.

The numbers that answer without a referral

These are all published by the HSE on its own mental health supports page.

The HSE mental health information line is freephone 1800 111 888, and the HSE says you can call it any time.

Samaritans answer on freephone 116 123, at any hour, for a listening service.

Text About It is a free 24-hour text chat service. You free-text HELLO to 50808. The HSE describes it as providing everything from a calming chat to immediate support for someone going through a mental health or emotional crisis. Text is the right choice when talking is impossible, which with a sleeping baby on you is often literally true.

Pieta offers a freephone service on 1800 247 247, at any time, and you can also text HELP to 51444 at standard message rates.

Aware runs a support line on freephone 1800 80 48 48, from 10am to 10pm, Monday to Sunday, for information, support and talking therapy.

The HSE notes that you do not need a referral from a GP for Samaritans or Text About It.

If it is an emergency

If you or your baby are in immediate danger, that is 112 or 999, or your nearest emergency department. Rapid changes in your thinking, losing touch with reality, or feeling driven to act on frightening thoughts are urgent assessments, not appointments.

The public health nurse screening

Ireland builds a screening step into routine postnatal care. The HSE states that public health nurses carry out a screening for postnatal depression, which generally happens at the first visit after birth.

That is genuinely useful, and it is also a single snapshot. Postnatal depression frequently arrives after the first visit, and a screening that came back fine in week two says nothing about week ten. If things change later, contact your public health nurse again rather than assuming your chance has passed.

Getting to treatment

The HSE's advice on getting help is to ask early, and to talk to your GP or public health nurse. That is the practical gate, and both can act.

Beyond primary care, the HSE says perinatal mental health services are available in some maternity units and hospitals, providing specialist support to women experiencing mental health problems, and that your GP, midwife, doctor or psychiatrist can refer you to the service. Because these teams are attached to maternity units, being still under maternity care often makes referral quicker.

Treatment is not a single thing. The HSE says counselling on its own can be helpful in less severe postnatal depression, and that it also works well alongside medicine in more severe forms, where treatment usually involves antidepressants. Whether a particular medicine is compatible with breastfeeding is a specific conversation worth insisting on rather than guessing.

Postpartum psychosis is different

The HSE publishes separate guidance on postpartum psychosis, and it should be treated as a medical emergency rather than as severe depression. It is rare, it usually begins in the first days or weeks after birth, and it can develop very quickly. Anyone who becomes confused, is hearing or seeing things that are not there, is behaving out of character, or is not sleeping at all needs assessment the same day.

The practical things that help

The HSE's own list is unglamorous and worth reading anyway: be open about your feelings so others understand what you need; eat well and be physically active, and a daily walk counts; ask family and friends for help with practical things and scale back other activities; take every opportunity to rest, including sleeping when your baby sleeps; find time for yourself; and spend time with people who care about you.

It also suggests meeting other mothers, and points to mother-to-mother support groups, baby and toddler groups and Cuidiu groups, noting that your public health nurse may be able to give you details of groups in your area.

Partners and family

The HSE publishes advice specifically for partners and families, which is worth reading if you are the one watching rather than the one struggling. Partners get postnatal depression too and are less likely to be screened for it, because the routine checks are built around the birthing parent. The same freephone and text services above are open to them on exactly the same terms.

If you are the partner and you are worried, saying it directly to the GP or public health nurse often unlocks a faster response than the patient's own account does, particularly when the person who is ill has stopped being able to advocate for themselves.

Where to get help

Call the HSE mental health information line free on 1800 111 888 at any time, or Samaritans on 116 123, or free-text HELLO to 50808 for a 24-hour chat. Pieta answers on 1800 247 247 and Aware on 1800 80 48 48 from 10am to 10pm. Ask your GP or public health nurse for a referral to perinatal mental health services, and say plainly that this is what you want. In an emergency, call 112 or 999 or go to an emergency department.