Small charity. Big TV audience.

Action on Postpartum Psychosis

Sunday, May 12th, 2019, BBC 2, 9pm. While Louis Theroux presented his documentary about postpartum psychosis, ‘Mothers on the Edge’, the hashtag #FromMe2MBU appeared over and over again on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, alongside #LouisTheroux and #MothersOnTheEdge. Women and their partners were sharing their powerful, personal stories of postpartum psychosis.

Action on Postpartum Psychosis

Louis Theroux’s documentaries don’t shy away from difficult, important issues. They also raise awareness, get people talking, sharing and searching for information. So I planned and created the #FromMe2MBU social media campaign for Action on Postpartum Psychosis (APP) to tie in with the documentary. We wanted to raise awareness of both the illness and the charity. And to show the importance of Mother and Baby Units (MBUs) in women’s – and their families’ – recovery.

I worked with APP’s supporters to crowdsource the hashtag #FromMe2MBU and write case studies for the campaign. I turned the supporters’ stories into images for people to share; ran a poll; wrote about APP for those looking for more info (with causes and subjects like this the facts have to be right); and I created fundraising messages for APP to use across social media. I also made sure those sharing their stories had the right support in place. An APP volunteer, who’d recovered from postpartum psychosis, took over the charity’s Twitter feed during the programme to share her thoughts and reply to messages. 

‘I just wanted to say thanks for arranging this campaign. Hopefully it got the message out there a little bit more.’

Action on Postpartum Psychosis (APP) supporter

Action on Postpartum Psychosis is a small charity doing much-needed work. The social media campaign to support the documentary shared their messages and raised awareness far and wide. Louis Theroux tweeted about the campaign to his 2 million followers, as did Fern Britton and other celebrities. Many people working in the NHS and campaign groups shared and re-posted APP’s messages, highlighting the importance of MBUs. The campaign reached new audiences, and, most importantly, included, involved and championed women and their families who’ve recovered from postpartum psychosis.