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Mind Cymru secures funding for perinatal mental health project

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mind cymruMIND CYMRU has announced £145,000 grant funding from the Welsh Government for a twoyear perinatal mental health project targeting women in Pembrokeshire, and across Wales.

The project will raise awareness of perinatal mental health and the support available to ensure the general public and health and social care professionals better understand the problems women can face.

Alan Briscoe, the Welsh mental health charity, Mind Cymru’s Training and Consultancy Manager, said: “Mental ill health during pregnancy and early motherhood is a serious issue with potentially lifelong consequences for the mental health and wellbeing of women and their families.

“Pregnancy and early motherhood should be a happy and exciting time but for too many women this is sadly not the case. Expectant and new mums can be very vulnerable, but are often overlooked and not given appropriate help early enough. It was with this in mind that Mind Cymru developed the new perinatal mental health project.

“Our aim is to not only increase the number of women who seek early support but to also ensure support is available when needed. To do this we will work with a broad range of partners within communities and the voluntary and health sectors targeting women across Wales, including those living in rural areas and from BME and refugee backgrounds.”

Chris Coe, Regional Director for Wales for Farm Community Network, one of the organisations involved in the project, said: “Perinatal mental health problems affect women across Wales. People in rural areas can feel more isolated than those in larger towns and cities and find it harder to access the help and support they may need. I am therefore delighted to be involved with this project on behalf of the Farm Community Network.”

Two kinds of perinatal mental health training will also be developed and rolled out as part of the project. Alan explained: “The first will be aimed at health and social care professionals to help increase recognition of the early signs of perinatal mental health problems. This will increase opportunities for early intervention, resulting in improved support and better outcomes for those involved.

“The second will focus on helping to increase the resilience of women from at risk groups. This will allow those who take part in the workshops to learn skills that will have a long lasting impact on their personal health and the wellbeing of their families.”

Laura Jane, a mother of two, experienced mental health problems following complications during pregnancy. She said: “My pregnancies certainly weren’t easy. My problems probably started about 16 weeks into my first pregnancy and continued until after the birth of my second child. During this time I had a lot of physical health problems including intense pain and sickness, which had an effect on my mental health.

“As someone who experienced severe depression from my twentieth week of pregnancy, this project cannot come soon enough. I believe I would have really benefitted from resilience training.

“I also believe improving general awareness and recognition of signs and breaking down the stigma associated with perinatal mental health will certainly benefit women and families for years to come.”

Mark Williams’ wife suffered severe postnatal depression, which spurred him on to create Fathers Reaching Out, a charity to support men whose wives and partners experience postnatal depression. He said: “People struggling with perinatal mental health problems shouldn’t have to struggle in silence. This project is well overdue and will make a big change to the lives of many families across Wales.”

Mind Cymru is also looking for women who have experienced perinatal mental health problems to get directly involved with the project by sharing their story and help shape the content of project information and resources.

Allan added: “We’d like to offer women the chance to share their story by helping them to create their own digital story. Those who would like to get involved will be given training and support to create their story. We’re also asking women to help shape the content of the project’s information resources to ensure they are as useful and accessible as possible. We are especially keen to hear from Welsh speakers and women whose first language is neither Welsh nor English.”

 

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Entertainment

Superstars of Welsh Wrestling coming to the Torch Theatre

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A HIGH-ENERGY family wrestling show is set to bring thrills, spills and plenty of crowd-pleasing action to Milford Haven next month.

From Trecco Bay to Baglan, and from Cwmbran to Milford Haven, the Superstars of Welsh Wrestling are back on the road and preparing to rumble once again.

The popular live entertainment show will arrive at the Torch Theatre for a one-night extravaganza on Sunday, May 17, promising body slams, larger-than-life characters and fast-paced action for all ages.

Since being established in 2005, Welsh Wrestling has built a reputation as the leading wrestling promotion in Wales, staging shows in theatres and venues across the country. Each year, the company performs in front of thousands of fans, offering an action-packed night out aimed at families and wrestling supporters alike.

Audience members can expect an afternoon of glamour, chaos and athletic spectacle, with organisers promising a memorable experience that will have children and adults alike cheering on their favourite stars.

Welsh Wrestling has received glowing praise from fans on its Facebook page, with one audience member saying: “What a fantastic night. My two grandsons loved every minute of the show. A great show designed with families in mind. I will highly recommend this to all friends and family. Thanks for a great evening!”

The Superstars of Welsh Wrestling will appear live at the Torch Theatre, Milford Haven, on Sunday, May 17 at 4:00pm.

Tickets cost £15 for adults and £12 for children. For bookings, call the Box Office on 01646 695267 or visit torchtheatre.co.uk.

 

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Crime

Keeston driver to face trial over A40 driving allegation

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Twenty-year-old admits tyre offences but denies driving without due care and attention

A TWENTY-year-old man from Keeston is due to stand trial in Haverfordwest after appearing before Llanelli Magistrates’ Court charged in connection with alleged driving offences on the A40 near Haverfordwest.

Thomas Hayes, of Keeston, appeared before magistrates on Wednesday (Apr 22) in relation to three offences said to have taken place between late on December 26 and the early hours of December 27, 2025.

The court heard Hayes is accused of driving a Volkswagen car on the A40 between Haverfordwest and Johnston without due care and attention.

According to the prosecution summary, police officers first saw the car at around 10:00pm and believed it was travelling above the speed limit. Officers later reported seeing the same vehicle again and said they were unable to catch up because of its speed.

It is further alleged that at around 1:00am officers saw the vehicle on Freemens Way, Haverfordwest, negotiating a sharp bend at speed and crossing solid white lines onto the opposite side of the road. Police later traced the car after checks through the operations room and located it at a filling station in Johnston at around 1:35am.

Hayes denied the allegation of driving without due care and attention.

He did, however, plead guilty to two separate vehicle defect offences. These were using a vehicle with an incorrectly inflated rear nearside tyre, and using a vehicle with a front nearside tyre said to have had a lump, bulge or tear caused by structural failure.

The case was adjourned for trial at Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court on Monday, August 10 at 10:00am. The hearing is expected to last two hours.

 

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Health

St John Ambulance Cymru sets sights on a more ‘mentally healthy Wales’

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ST JOHN AMBULANCE CYMRU has unveiled a range of new courses to help transform the nation’s wellbeing and create a ‘mentally healthy Wales,’ to combat a crisis that currently costs the UK economy millions of lost workdays.

The first aid charity for Wales, which trains hundreds of people in Mental Health First Aid each year, is calling on businesses to integrate it into the core of their operations, treating it with the same lifesaving urgency as physical first aid.

In a recent interview for the St John Ambulance Cymru podcast, Just in Case: Stories from St John, the charity’s Lead Trainer, Belinda James, highlighted the staggering economic and human cost of the current mental health crisis and noted that approximately 17 to 18 million workdays are lost annually due to mental health struggles.

James said the statistics, published by the Health and Safety Executive, were “surprising and upsetting.”

She added: “You think for all of those statistics, for all of those numbers, there’s a person, there are people at the heart of that, who are at home not able to work because they are struggling.”

While physical injuries are often visible, mental health challenges frequently manifest in subtle behavioural shifts. James emphasised that “knowing your colleagues well” is the first line of defence in identifying when someone is in distress.

“If it’s normal for me to be quite chirpy, to be early, to be on the ball first thing in the morning… and then I come in, and I look bedraggled, and I look stressed, and I’m snappy… that would be a good time to just say, is everything all right?”

She noted that other “hidden signs” include withdrawal, changes in eating or sleeping habits, and increased substance use, such as stepping out for more frequent cigarette breaks.

The push for better training comes as society navigates a generational divide in how mental health is discussed. James noted that workplaces are currently “caught in the mix” of the “make do and mend” generation and the younger “snowflake” generation.

“We live in a society that’s like, ‘Oh God, no, don’t address that. Don’t talk about the hard stuff. Chin up,” James observed.

However, she argued that directness is often what saves lives. “It is so much more validating to hear somebody say to you, ‘You are going through a really tough time at the moment. I’m so sorry. That must be very difficult to handle.”

As the UK faces gaps in mental health service provision, many individuals are turning to Artificial Intelligence for support – a trend James views with caution. While AI can be a “fantastic tool for signposting,” she warns that it lacks the essential component of empathy.

“It cannot understand human emotion. It won’t pick up on a human emotion,” she said. “The last thing that we want is for them to be led astray by an AI language program that cannot understand the depths of human emotion”.

St John Ambulance Cymru provides Mental Health First Aid Wales-certified training designed to give people the skills to recognise signs of mental ill-health and provide initial support until professional help is received.

These courses are evidence-based and cover critical topics, including depression, anxiety, psychosis, and crises such as suicidal thoughts and panic attacks.

The curriculum includes:

  • Mental Health First Aid (2 Days): The flagship 12-hour course teaching adults how to support friends, family, and co-workers. Participants learn the “Mental Health Action Plan” and gain the confidence to intervene in crises like non-suicidal self-injury or traumatic events.
  • Mental Health Advocate (1 Day): A course for those looking to proactively champion wellbeing and reduce stigma in their organization.
  • Mental Health Awareness (1/2 Day): A foundational session to build empathy and understanding of what mental health is.
  • Mental Health for Managers: Specifically designed to help leadership recognise indicators of stress and manage the unique pressures of supporting a team.

For more information on Mental Health First Aid training or to book a course, visit www.sjacymru.org.uk/en/courses/MHFA 

 

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