UK - A new £7.5 million cross-border Mother and Baby Mental Health Unit, Seren Lodge, has opened in Chester

UK - A new £7.5 million cross-border Mother and Baby Mental Health Unit, Seren Lodge, has opened in Chester, providing specialist support to women across Cheshire, Merseyside and North Wales. The name Seren (“star” in Welsh) was chosen by mothers with lived experience of maternal mental ill-health, symbolising hope, recovery and the partnership between Wales and England. What makes this unit especially powerful is how experiential expertise has been embedded from the very beginning: women with lived experience shaped the name, the environment and the small but crucial design details, from cushioned headboards for night feeds to calming, dimmable lighting. So that care responds to real needs, not assumptions. Nia, an Expert by Experience who became severely unwell after her son’s birth and was admitted to a Mother and Baby Unit in Manchester, has been campaigning since 2021 for a specialist unit for the North Wales region and has been involved in Seren Lodge from design to opening. Her journey, and that of many other mothers, shows how lived experience can drive structural change and bring care closer to home for families who previously had to travel long distances at their most vulnerable. Seren Lodge is a powerful example of what happens when services are co-designed with people who have been there: experiential knowledge becomes a strategic asset, improving access, dignity and outcomes for parents and babies.