Seven women. One graduation. A course that could change the way Wirral supports pregnant women affected by substance use.
Wirral Ways, part of Change Grow Live, has helped fund and deliver the first course of its kind on Wirral: a partnership pilot with Intuitive Thinking Skills, Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (WUTH) maternity services, and Wirral Council Public Health, designed specifically for pregnant and postnatal women affected by substance and alcohol use.
The pilot recently marked its first graduation. It was a small, quiet event, but everyone in the room knew they were witnessing something significant.
Breaking down stigma
The course was built to create a safe, non-judgemental space where women could speak openly about their experiences, something that is too often missing from services designed around crisis and threshold rather than early support.
Jill Lamb, a substance use midwife at WUTH, explained why this mattered so much:
“Substance use does not discriminate. It affects women from every background, and not every woman who uses substances will meet the criteria for assessment or treatment within specialist drug and alcohol services. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a need.”
Rather than simply telling women that substances are harmful, the course, delivered by Allan Gerrard of Intuitive Thinking Skills, helps women understand why they use, recognise their own patterns and triggers, and build practical tools to make different choices. Much of the learning focuses on the brain itself, understanding how “addictive desire” can take hold, and how women can learn to bring their own thinking back into control.
In their own words
The impact on the women who took part speaks for itself. One course graduate said the sessions had:
“Made me a lot stronger in my willpower… helped me rationalise my feelings and thoughts.”
Another described the course as the first time she had felt able to be truly open:
“I walked into this room not really knowing what to expect, but for the first time, I felt safe enough to be truly open… Underneath everything, every single one of us loves our babies. Maybe we just forgot how to love ourselves.”
And one mum, watching her daughter graduate, shared what the course had meant for her family:
“I have genuinely seen a change in the way my daughter thinks and approaches her life… This should be taught in schools.”
Of the seven women who took part, the majority reported that they had not used substances since completing the course, with others describing real progress in cutting down and recognising their own triggers.
A partnership built on listening
The pilot came about through strong working relationships across Wirral. Katie Owen, a specialist pregnancy recovery worker, and Jill Lamb had identified a gap for some time: women whose substance use sat below the threshold for specialist treatment, but who would clearly benefit from support. Allan Gerrard and Intuitive Thinking Skills offered a way to fill that gap.
Wirral Ways agreed to fund the pilot, and WUTH became the first maternity unit to offer this specific intervention to pregnant and postnatal women, work made possible by the support of the trust’s Director of Nursing and Midwifery in making space for the course to run.
What happens next
This was never intended to be a one off. As Jill put it in her graduation speech:
“We don’t need to wait until a woman reaches crisis before we intervene… Commissioning Intuitive Thinking would allow us to continue what this pilot has started, reaching women earlier, preventing escalation, and giving more pregnant and postnatal women the opportunity to make changes that could ultimately change not just one life, but generations to come.”
The hope now is to build on this first pilot, both across Wirral and potentially further afield, so that more women get the chance to make the same changes.
Last Updated on 9 September 2026