Tracey had been a successful occupational therapist in NHS mental health services for 10 years when she had her first baby and developed postpartum psychosis out of the blue.

Despite her professional experience she’d never heard of the condition and didn't understand what was happening to her. During the course of the illness she experienced hallucinations, delusions, mania, anxiety and depression. She felt out of control of her mind and her life and felt no hope for her future as a professional or as Mum.

Her experience of receiving disempowering non-personalised care led Tracey to develop a passion for improving the support available for others. She went on to spend 20 years in NHS service improvement leadership roles across mental health, perinatal mental health and maternity services at local and national level.

Her work centred on shifting the culture and power imbalance through coproduction, listening to those who use services, improving access to specialist services, developing peer support roles and tackling health inequalities. Alongside her NHS work Tracey told her postpartum psychosis story in the media and at training events to raise awareness and challenge stigma. She also trained as a peer supporter for a specialist mental health charity where she is now a trustee.

When Tracey entered perimenopause she felt a decline in her mental health again and began to experience burnout in her NHS role. She decided to prioritise her wellbeing and retrained as a transformational coach, along with discovering the power of connecting with nature to support mental health. She now supports other women using nature connected coaching alongside continued involvement in mental health lived experience leadership and women’s mental health research.

Tracey can provide talks and workshops about postpartum psychosis, perinatal mental health care, approaches to coproduction and user involvement, mental health during perimenopause, and the use of nature connection to support wellbeing and mental health.