How we supported young mum Corinne with her mental health

With Barnardo’s help, Corinne went from feeling isolated and experiencing postnatal depression to speaking up for others at the 2023 political party conferences. 

A young woman smiling with Christmas lights in the background

Corrine, aged 24, is a young mum living in Glasgow. She’s previously received mental health support from Barnardo’s.  

“I got in contact with Barnardo’s when I fell pregnant just before the first lockdown in 2020. I wasn’t in a great relationship at the time – I had to make some tough choices. It wasn’t an easy process and Barnardo’s supported me through that and with my mental health as well.” 

Supporting Corinne with her mental health

“I had my wee boy in May 2020. We were in the middle of the [Covid-19] pandemic at that point and I had really bad postnatal depression.”  

“At the time, I had different services contacting me via the phone, but nobody was doing home visits… My Barnardo’s support worker was phoning me every week, sometimes two times a week and, on one occasion, he phoned me and we just had a normal, chilled conversation.”  

“He said ‘hiya’ and asked me how I was doing. I told him about my plans for that day and he must have known something wasn’t right – but I was playing it off and acting like I was totally fine.” 

“About half an hour later, he got me the help I required. That was the first time a service had noticed my postnatal depression.”  

For Corrine, getting access to mental health support hasn’t always been easy. 

“When I first started with my depression, it was a struggle to get mental health support.” 

“I remember phoning the doctors and I could just never get through to them. If it wasn’t for my support worker at the time from Barnardo’s, phoning and actually emphasising that I need support, it would have been a different story. It would have been a totally different outcome in the end.” 

“For young people today, the waiting queues are so long for mental health support that people are getting to a crisis point. Early intervention should be starting much sooner rather than waiting up to a year and a half on a waiting list.” 

“The support he gave was amazing.” 

Barnardo’s is the only service I feel as if when a promise is made, a promise is kept.

How the cost-of-living crisis is impacting Corinne and her son

“The cost of living has affected us as when we are going out for the day, I'm always looking for the cheapest options. With food shopping, I’m trying to work to a budget, but doing this is so hard with ever-rising costs.”  

“When I go shopping with my little one, they’re always asking for things which makes it even harder to stay within budget.”  

“The rising cost of living has definitely affected my mental health. I’m now doing less things for myself as the price is, most of the time, far too expensive.”  

Speaking at the 2023 political party conferences

In October 2023, Corrine, along with a group of other young people supported by Barnardo’s, attended the Labour and Conservative party conferences to speak with decision-makers and share her experiences.  

“It was a really, really good experience and definitely not something I’ve ever experienced before. 

“The first night we were there with five other charities I think that had a really empowering effect because it wasn’t just Barnardo’s saying the same thing – it was all of them coming together."

“The next day, we had the roundtable event and that was really good because we were talking about different funding. We talked about a lot of things in that discussion, like Universal Credit for example... I shared about how I was getting less Universal Credit than a 25-year-old, and I was able to express that I’m a mum and my family isn’t any less important than other families.” 

“I think there should be a standard rate across Universal Credit. I was doing adult stuff from the age of 19 when I was pregnant with my son and I wasn’t out partying or things like that. But I was getting less.” 

“It was really great to see that people were actually on side with us and projecting our voices.” 

“They [the politicians] had the same respect for us as everyone else around the table – rather than just speaking to us as young people who don’t matter.”  

The stigma of asking for help and Corinne’s advice for others

When it comes to mental health support and being a young mum, Corrine has a message for other young people going through the same experiences as her. 

“I think people think about social services and they think, ‘they're gonna take my child’. And when social services refer you to a place like Barnardo’s, they think ‘Barnardo’s are gonna take my child’. But it's not the case. Services are literally there to help you as a person and as a mum.” 

I want people to know that it’s okay to say that you’re not okay and it doesn’t make you a bad mum. You're better off speaking out because places like Barnardo’s can help you become a better person for you and your baby.

Today, Corrine and her son are doing well and Corrine now works with Barnardo’s.  

“I feel like I’ve done a 360-degree turn. My mental health is so much better now. If you told me four years ago where I’d be now, I wouldn’t have believed you."

I think, when you’re in a dark place, you just don't know where to turn. But I can always say that when Barnardo’s makes a promise, they keep the promise.