Arthur’s Place: introducing “Project Mum”

Arthur’s Place has created and launched “Project Mum” a support kit for young women with arthritis and related conditions, those who are considering becoming mothers in future, women who are currently pregnant and new mums. There will be advice for Dads-to-be and partners too, with or without arthritis.

Project Mum includes invaluable advice from health professionals, including consultant rheumatologists, nurse specialists, midwives, a physiotherapist, occupational therapist and three clinical psychologists. Arthur’s Place is also tremendously proud to include personal shared tips and advice from more experienced mums at Arthur’s Social: the Facebook community.

At the heart of Project Mum is a series of twelve short videos in which North East consultant rheumatologist Dr Martin Lee answers common questions that young women with arthritis have about conception, pregnancy, birth and early motherhood. Dr Lee covers fertility, medication considerations, symptoms during pregnancy, impact on labour, breastfeeding and more. We believe these videos are the first of their kind, and we hope our friends and HCP colleagues will signpost patients to them.

The hope is that Project Mum will reassure young women that motherhood is possible, and there is support available from others going through similar experiences. We also hope to inspire young women to think ahead about whether they would like children in future and discuss this with their doctor as early as possible in their treatment journey.

A new design and new features for Arthur’s Place

The launch of Project Mum is an opportunity to bring a fresh look to Arthur’s Place. The new design is as contemporary and visually striking as before, but the new layout will greatly improve the user experience on smart phones. Please do take a look.

As well as the new design, the blogs section has been relaunched to allow more young people with arthritis to contribute. It is now possible for everyone to share their story, and to contribute just a single written piece, photograph, piece of audio or short video. The goal is to create the richest and most diverse account of life with arthritis for people aged 18-35yrs, from around the world.

There is also Arthur’s Place TV, the YouTube channel devoted to curating the most relevant and trustworthy videos that we feel could be of benefit. This will also host the unique video content that A.P. plans to create, as and when funding allows.

Finally, the arthritis facts section has been updated to include the latest information and signposting to other services – in particular Versus Arthritis – plus launched a monthly newsletter. Arthur’s Place hopes you will subscribe to help spread the word about the fantastic community support and the range of content and tools available.