About us | Hartlepool Parent Support

About us

Our free-to-access services are delivered across Hartlepool, focusing on Infant Feeding and Perinatal Mental Health (Parents in Mind).

Peer Support in Hartlepool

We offer peer support in the Family Hubs, community venues, telephone/text and virtual support, one to one support and within 2 hospitals. Our trained volunteer peer supporters will provide ongoing social, emotional and practical support to pregnant and new parents within the area.

All of our peer supporters are local parents who have a lived experience of the issues faced by mothers, and bring this experience to their accredited training programme enabling them to work with you to provide a listening ear, with no judgement and a safe space.

Meet the team

We thought we’d take this opportunity to introduce the team behind Hartlepool Parent Support!

All of our team have lived experience of the support they’re offering and so do our amazing volunteer peer supporters!

Helen

Helen is our Hartlepool Infant Feeding Lead. She has worked for many years in the charity and community sector and has been with NCT since February 2024 as a peer supporter.

She is enthusiastic about supporting parents with their feeding journey and the early stages of parenthood. She will look after our infant feeding peer supporters who are available within Hartlepool - both in person groups, 1-2-1 and our hospitals.

Anna

Anna is our Programme Manager in Hartlepool. She has over a decade of experience working with new parents in the perinatal period, first as a peer supporter, then in maternity services before training as a Full Spectrum Doula.

She has a strong passion and energy for the world of birth and improving experiences for parents and their babies.

Katy

Katy is the Parents in Mind Project Lead in Hartlepool. Katy brings both professional insight and lived experience to her role. As a mother of three who has experienced postnatal psychosis and depression, she deeply understands the impact of perinatal mental health struggles. Her personal journey drives her passion for ensuring that no parent feels alone or unheard.

Katy holds a qualification in counselling skills and will begin a BSc in Psychology in October 2025 to further deepen her knowledge and strengthen her practice. Alongside her role in mental health support, Katy has a strong background in antenatal education and trauma-informed care, specialising in birth planning and emotional recovery after birth trauma.

Samina

Samina is our Hartlepool Paid Peer Supporter. Samina has volunteered with NCT Parent Support Hartlepool from its inception, being one of our first Parents in Mind Peers, she has gone on to finish her infant feeding Peer support training and moved into a paid Peer Support role.

Samina has a passion for supporting parents. As someone with lived experience of both Perinatal wellbeing struggles and Infant feeding difficulties, caring for premature twins in the neonatal unit, she is uniquely placed to offer dual support to any parent accessing our services.