Luciana Berger named new chair of Maternal Mental Health Alliance

Luciana Berger is to chair a coalition of 97 organisations and professionals working to improve mental health support during pregnancy.

The former politician will take the helm at Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA) at the start of next month.

Now the Managing Director of Public Affairs and Advocacy at Edelman UK, Luciana Berger said: “I am delighted to have been elected to serve as chair of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance. Perinatal mental health is an urgent and pressing issue for the whole of society.

The standard of care women receive depends on their postcode, and this must end. I look forward to working with MMHA’s members to support women and families, improve standards, and press for world-class mental health services for women before and after the birth of their child.”

Founded in 2011, MMHA is a coalition of 97 groups and clinicians working to improve mental health support during pregnancy and postnatally. Its director, Emily Slater, said she is “thrilled” to welcome Berger to the role, adding that she has a “deep commitment to improving the lives of women and families affected by perinatal mental illness”.

The former MP spent almost a decade in Parliament representing Liverpool Wavertree, and holding a number of shadow cabinet positions, including for mental health. In 2019 she left the Labour Party citing its failure to tackle antisemitism, joining the Independent Group, before defecting to the Lib Dems, for whom she unsuccessfully stood in Finchley and Golders Green in 2019.