Help is on hand, with the NCT

9:54am Friday 2nd May 2008

Women who feel isolated after childbirth will have more help if a mother and baby support group trains counsellors.

Halstead and Sudbury National Childbirth Trust (NCT) wants to raise £4,400 to train two women breastfeeding and ante-natal depression.

Two of the group's leading members Victoria Burton-Davey and Caroline Stinson plan to train as counsellors so they can help women who are struggling and vulnerable.

Mrs Stinson said the NCT's sometimes stuffy image bears no resemblance to the "lifeline" which the 100 strong group offers to many parents.

She said: "Its a time of life when you are pretty vulnerable. The NCT enables mums and dads to meet each other. We don't tell people how to feed their babies, or how to give birth."

Mrs Stinson, Earls Colne, said the training will take two and a half years.

She will then be able to offer one-to-one support to all new mums either through drop-in clinics, in their own homes or at the hospital as well as manning the national breastfeeding helpline.

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