The founder of a charity that provides perinatal mental health support says she鈥檚 thrilled to win a major national award.

Our member Miriam Donaghy, who set up and is chief executive of , an organisational member of 香港六合彩精准资料, hopes that winning this year鈥檚 GSK Impact Award will help develop the charity鈥檚 services.

MumsAid, based in Greenwich, was chosen from more than 350 UK charities as the overall winner of the GSK Impact Award at a ceremony in central London on Tuesday.

It will receive 拢40,000 in unrestricted funding and a package of leadership development support provided by health and care charity The King鈥檚 Fund, which oversaw the awards.

A further nine organisations have聽been awarded 拢30,000 and a package of leadership development support their outstanding contributions to improving the UK鈥檚 health and wellbeing.

They included six more of our organisational members 鈥� 听(贬驰颁厂); ;听;听聽(SARSAS);听聽(SWEDA); and聽.

Thrilled

鈥淚t鈥檚 great for the organisation,鈥� said Miriam. 鈥淲e鈥檙e thrilled. I鈥檓 hoping it will help our sustainability, that it will open doors for us to expand."

Picture caption (l-r): Sir Jon Symonds, chair of GSK; Katie Pinnock, GSK director of UK charitable partnerships at GSK; Miriam Donaghy, MumsAid founder and CEO of MumsAid; Jill Thompson, MumsAid chair; Richard Murray, chief executive of The King鈥檚 Fund; Lisa Weaks, assistant director at The King鈥檚 Fund

Picture caption (l-r): Sir Jon Symonds, chair of GSK; Katie Pinnock, GSK director of UK charitable partnerships at GSK; Miriam Donaghy, MumsAid founder and CEO of MumsAid; Jill Thompson, MumsAid chair; Richard Murray, chief executive of The King鈥檚 Fund; Lisa Weaks, assistant director at The King鈥檚 Fund

Miriam added:聽鈥淚鈥檝e been completing my doctorate and as part of that I鈥檝e written up the model of therapeutic intervention we use, which we鈥檇 like to offer as a training programme.

鈥淚 believe I know what works to help聽women with perinatal mental health struggles. It鈥檚 what I鈥檝e been doing for more than 20 years.

鈥淚鈥檓 passionate about women getting excellent services, and I want to train聽more people to do it in the way I feel is effective.

鈥淭raining other therapists will also enable us to聽generate income for聽MumsAid聽so that we鈥檙e not in a constant loop of seeking funding.

More counsellors

鈥淚鈥檒l be able to concentrate on the clinical side, on growing the charity, and on having more counsellors rather than having to write funding applications.

鈥淗opefully this award will raise the profile of our work and help position us better to achieve that.鈥�

Miriam said the charity might look to spend the award money on expanding 聽a pilot 鈥榦ut of hours鈥� text service that MumsAid are now offering to their young mums.

Miriam also paid tribute to the other GSK Impact Award winners, who鈥檝e been together for a series of workshops as part of their prize.

Amazing work

鈥淭hey鈥檙e all great,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 met some really lovely people from the other charities.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e happy whoever wins because you know everyone is doing amazing work with really important causes.鈥�

Our member Patricia David, head of service at HYCS, which was one of the 10 winners, said it was 鈥渨onderful鈥� to have the work of the service recognised.

鈥淲e鈥檙e absolutely delighted to have been one of the 10 incredible charities to win this great accolade,鈥� said Patricia.

鈥淚t feels wonderful to be rewarded and recognised for all of the hard work that the HYCS staff and counsellors have done in supporting the young people of Hounslow Borough, especially over such a difficult period.鈥�

The judges said they were impressed with the impact MumsAid has with its limited resources, supporting more than 300 women and their families every year.

Mental health support

Lisa Weaks, assistant director at The King鈥檚 Fund, said: 鈥淭he charity鈥檚 support for pregnant women and new mums in Greenwich and south east London has never been more important than during the past year, when many young families have found themselves cut off from their local communities and usual support.

鈥淭hroughout the pandemic, MumsAid has provided invaluable mental health support to new and expectant mothers and their partners, and worked hard to ensure it offers highly accessible and flexible services and reaches everyone who needs them.鈥�

Katie Pinnock, director of UK charitable partnerships at GSK, added: 鈥�This relatively small organisation is achieving so much and supporting so many and is still able to demonstrate impressive outcomes for both mother and baby.

鈥淚n this current crisis, it鈥檚 more important than ever to recognise excellent health and wellbeing charities providing services in such a nurturing and compassionate way.鈥�

Applications are now open for the .聽The closing date is 5pm on Monday 20 September.