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Lotus Maternal Therapeutic Outreach Team

  • A dedicated service for women and birthing people in Norfolk and Waveney, providing help and support for: - Birth trauma (a traumatic event related to pregnancy, birth or immediately afterwards) - Fear of childbirth (Tokophobia) - Loss of a pregnancy (this could include miscarriage, termination of pregnancy, ectopic pregnancy and stillbirth) or the death of a baby within the first 12 months. - A child no longer living with them due to Children’s Services involvement

  • Base: Gatehouse, Julian Hospital, Bowthorpe Rd
  • Service Manager Lead: Tracey Liddell and Clinical Lead Emily Wilkens
  • Service Contact: Telephone 01603 786781, email Lotus@nsft.nhs.uk
  • Address:
    Gatehouse,  Julian Hospital,  Bowthorpe Rd, Norwich, NR2 3TD
  • Reception phone number: 01603 781786 (Option 2)
  • Service hours: 9:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday

What this service offers

We are very sorry you may being reading this because of your personal experience. We want you to know you are not alone in this, our team, is here to help you through your recovery journey. These experiences can bring a range of thoughts, feelings and responses which can feel confusing and isolating. Sometimes these can intensify emotional distress and things become unmanageable, affecting our relationships, work and social activity.

Our service is offering support to women and birthing people who have experienced:

To find out more information about each of the individual Lotus services, please follow the above links.

We offer a Trauma Informed Care approach, which means:

  • Staff being trustworthy and clear
  • Empowering women and birthing people to have a voice in their decision making 
  • Peer support
  • Working together and supporting women and birthing people to make individual choices
  • Being sensitive to cultural and gender issues that may impact on anyone’s experience of care.

The Lotus Team is proud to include professionals from a range of backgrounds including: 

  • Clinical Psychologists and Psychological Therapists  - 
  • Peer Support Workers - Working in partnership with you to explore your personal goals and assist you on your recovery journey using their own lived experience. 
  • Specialist Midwives – this support could be provided from early pregnancy up until 8 weeks postnatal working alongside you using their specialist midwifery skills. They are able to advocate for you and develop a care plan with you to support your maternity experience.

Our team will offer a variety of different interventions which are person-centred to meet your individual needs. 

Access this service

Self Referral: You can self-refer by contacting the Lotus team on 01603 786781, emailing lotus@nsft.nhs.uk.  

Professional Referral: Referrals can be made to the Lotus team by all professionals, including GPs, midwives, social workers and voluntary organisations. To ensure all referrals are safely managed and allocated to the most appropriate service based upon the presenting needs, all referrals are redirected into a Single Point of Access (SPOA) for triage and multi-agency decision making. This may mean some cases are allocated to the Lotus team or signposted to other teams, such as the wider perinatal service or the Wellbeing team. If you are a professional and are considering making a referral to the Lotus service, you can contact us to arrange a consultation by emailing lotus@nsft.nhs.uk or calling 01603 786781.

Referral process: Initially, we may contact you by telephone to discuss your needs and your expectations of the support you are looking to receive from our service.  

Following this, you will be either offered an appointment to develop a better understanding of your needs, or we might suggest other relevant organisations, or offer support to you in making a referral to other services. 

Visiting and onsite facilities

We aim to support you in an environment in which you feel comfortable, which means that the place where therapeutic interventions and support takes place, may vary. This could be offered face to face and/or virtually via video call or telephone. Face to face support could take place at our Trust sites, as a home visit, in GP surgeries and in other community venues. 

Free parking spaces, including disabled, are available at our NSFT sites.

  • Gatehouse, Julian Hospital 
  • Hellesdon Hospital
    • Peddars
    • MBU
  • Northgate Hospital, Great Yarmouth
  • Thurlow House, Kings Lynn 

How this service support carers including friends and family

there may be occasions where therapeutic work as a couple would be helpful. We will also encourage partners to contact their GPs if they need formal mental health support and help to signpost to other support organisations. We can refer partners or family members to Carer’s Support Services, if they wish to be assessed as a Carer.

We support partners and families by including them in the development of Care Plans, where appropriate.  This is in line with the NSFT Triangle of Care approach, which promotes a collaborative working relationship between the Service User, Professional, and Carer to help support recovery and wellbeing.

Websites and resources you may find useful

Fear of childbirth:

Tommy’s website has a section dedicated to this subject. Fear of childbirth | Tommy's (tommys.org)

‘Oh sh*t twins’ is a supportive blog and podcast for mums of twins, many of whom experience trauma. Oh Sh*t Twins –

For those who have experienced loss and feelings of loss through infertility, termination, miscarriage, stillbirth and neonatal death.

Local support

Time Norfolk. supports women and men who have suffered a pregnancy loss due to termination, miscarriage, stillbirth or facing an unplanned pregnancy. We also support women through pregnancy to the early stages of parenting. In addition to the above, we help women come to terms with infertility. @NorfolkSupport

CRADLE Norfolk @cradle_norfolk CRADLE ambassadors for the Norfolk and Norwich University and Kings Lynn Queen Elizabeth hospitals. To bring comfort to parents during a time of pregnancy loss.

Angels and Rainbows (angelsandrainbowssupport.co.uk) - Angels and Rainbows is a community group based in Lowestoft which supports families of pregnancy and baby loss.

National support

The Miscarriage Association offers livechat, support groups via zoom and a forum.

SANDS (stillbirth and neonatal death society) but also supports those who have lost a baby due to miscarriage, termination due to foetal abnormality and molar pregnancy.

Lullaby Trust- support for families and others affected by sudden infant death.

Child bereavement UK support for families bereaved of children.

Arc UK, support and promotion of human rights for parents before, during and after antenatal screening.

Tommy’s facebook page for those who have lost pregnancies and babies for diverse reasons including termination due to congenital problems.

Petals (Pregnancy Expectations Trauma and Loss Society) provides individual and couples counselling sessions to individuals following the loss of a baby.

For birthing parents whose child is not in residence. 

Local support:

Mpower- supporting mothers whose children are not in residence. 

Mobile: 07719973027

National support

Pause - Does not offer direct support but has useful information.

PAC UK - A national online and telephone service for parents whose children are not in residence.

Urgent help

The Lotus team is unable to offer 24 hour crisis support, however you can call 111 and select the mental health option to speak to our 24 hour mental health crisis line.

If you are with someone who has attempted suicide, call 999 and stay with them until the ambulance arrives. 

If anyone is at serious risk of harm, call 999 and ask for the police. 

For non-life threatening medical situations, call NHS111 on 111.  

For more information, see Help in a Crisis.

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