Holding Time is a pioneering arts and health organisation that uses creative tools—photography, film, poetry, podcasts, and soon virtual reality—to explore and transform experiences of motherhood, infant feeding, and maternal mental health. We collaborate with mothers, health professionals, researchers, and cultural organisations to create installations, exhibitions, digital platforms, and interventions that open up honest conversations, reduce stigma, and support maternal and infant wellbeing.
We can:
a. Offer consultation and advice to companies, organisations and public buildings on how to make their workplace, facilities, ethos more attuned to the needs of breastfeeding mothers.
b. License images for Family Hub Networks and other NHS bodies to use for the purpose of promoting diversity and inclusion in breastfeeding.
c. Offer tailor made courses, events and screenings for training, promotion and other purposes.
Click here to make a free half hour zoom appointment if you need our help.
Why do we do this?
Breastfeeding and infant feeding are surrounded by cultural pressures, misinformation, and systemic barriers. Mothers who want to breastfeed often face high levels of stress, social isolation, and inadequate support—challenges that can be amplified in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs), where mothers experience double the rates of postnatal depression. Holding Time addresses these issues by offering creative, culturally sensitive, and accessible tools that improve maternal wellbeing, strengthen parent-infant bonding, and challenge negative stereotypes surrounding infant feeding.
Our Impact
Over the past seven years, Holding Time has reached audiences across the UK through exhibitions in hospitals, galleries, and public spaces; digital storytelling with over 1.4 million YouTube views; and collaborations with NHS Trusts, councils, and universities. Our projects have been widely recognised in national press, academic research, and health sector reports. Mothers who participate report reduced feelings of isolation, increased confidence, and a sense of being heard and valued. Health professionals acknowledge our work as a much-needed cultural intervention in maternal and infant health.
Read the independent evaluation from the Cheshire and Merseyside project here.
Our current priorities
Our current priority is the Holding Time VR (HTVR) Project, a groundbreaking virtual reality intervention co-designed with mothers, researchers, and health professionals. HTVR provides an immersive, calming, and empowering environment for mothers in NICUs, aiming to improve milk expression outcomes and maternal wellbeing. We are raising funds to:
- Complete prototype development and testing in Liverpool Women’s Hospital.
- Evaluate impact on breastfeeding retention and maternal mental health.
- Develop training materials for health professionals.
- Scale the project to additional NICUs across the UK.
If your organisation can help us achieve this goal, please get in touch.
Future ambitions
Looking ahead, we aim to:
- Establish HTVR as a scalable intervention across the NHS.
- Expand our creative health programmes nationally, reaching diverse communities with culturally sensitive tools.
- Advocate for greater integration of arts in maternal and infant health policy.
- Share our interdisciplinary methods internationally, creating adaptable models for creative health interventions.
- Continue to innovate at the intersection of art, health, and technology, ensuring mothers’ voices remain central to shaping future solutions.