Turning pain into purpose: Mum launches Brighter Skies after postpartum mental health crisis...

A mother from Thirsk, who endured a life-threatening mental health crisis following the birth of her first child, is marking World Mental Health Day (Friday 10th October) by launching Brighter Skies - a campaign and support initiative co-founded with her husband Andrew - with the aim of driving systemic change in perinatal mental health care and providing local, practical support for new parents in Yorkshire.

In the weeks after giving birth to their son, Harlan, 35-year-old Stef Scurr from Thirsk experienced severe postnatal depression which culminated in a suicide attempt. After reaching rock bottom, Stef and her baby were admitted to Nottingham’s Mother and Baby Unit - the closest one with space for the pair, as Leeds was full - where she stayed for six weeks while getting treatment and working on her recovery.

Having navigated that darkness and the fraught, fragmented support system in its aftermath, Stef and Andrew resolved that no family should ever feel so lost or so unsupported. What they encountered, including delays in access to specialist help, gaps in continuity and a lack of peer-centred community, has motivated them to act.

“The reason I launched Brighter Skies,” says Stef, “is because I endured the abyss and I don’t want any other mother, father or family to feel so utterly abandoned. If my story can shine a light so someone else finds help earlier, it will all have been worth it.”






















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