Most healthcare innovations begin with a recognised problem. For Edidiong Ishola, they began with hundreds of conversations.
As a perinatal mental health provider working across clinical and community settings in the United Kingdom, Ishola repeatedly encountered mothers who were not necessarily presenting in crisis but were struggling with something equally important: isolation, emotional overwhelm, lack of trusted information, and limited access to culturally responsive support.
Over time, recurring patterns emerged across hundreds of interactions with mothers accessing support services.
Regardless of ethnicity, socioeconomic background, or immigration status, many women were facing similar challenges while navigating pregnancy, postpartum recovery, and early parenthood.
Those experiences became the foundation for a new approach.
Edidiong Ishola, as the founder and director of Operations & Research Lead at MIKEDCAREs CIC, a maternal mental health social enterprise, Ishola has spent the last 9 years designing and testing a technology-enabled community support model that combines maternal wellbeing, research, community engagement, and digital infrastructure.
Rather than focusing solely on intervention after a crisis occurs, the model seeks to identify and support mothers earlier through accessible, community-led pathways.
Building a Digital Support Model
A major milestone in that journey was the Cheltenham Connected Mom Project, delivered in May 2026.
More than a standalone community event, the project served as a live demonstration of how digital tools and community engagement can work together to improve maternal wellbeing outcomes.
Throughout the programme, participant engagement was supported through a combination of social media outreach, community partnerships, WhatsApp engagement channels, digital registration systems, and ongoing communication workflows designed to keep mothers connected before, during, and after the event.
Unlike traditional maternal wellbeing programmes that often rely heavily on referral pathways, MIKEDCAREs uses community-led digital engagement channels to identify and support mothers earlier in their care journey.
The organisation’s WhatsApp community played an important role in this process, providing a space where mothers could share experiences, seek support, and engage with resources. Feedback and recurring themes emerging from these conversations helped shape the event programme and highlighted common concerns, including emotional wellbeing, identity after motherhood, relationship challenges, returning to work, and self-care.
The project demonstrated how community engagement data can be used to inform service design while ensuring mothers remain central to the development process.
Edidiong Ishola, addressing participants during the Cheltenham Connected Mom Project, a community-led initiative designed to strengthen maternal wellbeing through education, connection, and accessible support.
Extending Support Beyond the Event
One of the project’s most innovative outputs was the MIKEDCAREs Parenting and Wellbeing Toolkit.
Developed specifically for the programme, the toolkit combined practical parenting resources, guided reflection exercises, emotional wellbeing tools, conversation prompts, and QR-linked digital resources designed to extend support beyond the event itself.
The objective was simple: create continuity. Many maternal wellbeing interventions provide support at a single point in time.
The toolkit was designed to help mothers continue accessing resources, practising wellbeing strategies, and remaining connected to available support networks long after the event concluded.
By combining physical resources with digital access points, the initiative created a bridge between in-person engagement and ongoing support.
From Community Infrastructure to Digital Innovation
The Cheltenham Connected Mom Project forms part of a broader vision for maternal mental health support.
The first phase has focused on building community infrastructure through events, support groups, educational resources, digital engagement channels, and structured feedback mechanisms that help identify the needs of mothers and families.
The next phase involves the development of the Connected Mom Hub in partnership with community organisations, creating a dedicated space where mothers can access wellbeing programmes, parenting support, peer connection, and mental health signposting throughout the year.
Alongside this work, MIKEDCAREs is currently designing a digital maternal support platform intended to improve access to culturally responsive support for mothers from diverse backgrounds.
The proposed platform will incorporate AI-assisted support features, including personalised wellbeing guidance, community navigation, and resource recommendations informed by insights gathered through the organisation’s community programmes and support initiatives.
While still under development, the vision reflects a growing recognition that technology can play an important role in making maternal mental health support more accessible, scalable, and responsive to the realities of modern parenting.
A Founder Working Across Research, Healthcare, and Innovation
Ishola’s approach is shaped by an unusual combination of experiences spanning healthcare, research, entrepreneurship, and digital innovation.
She holds a BSc in Biomedical Sciences and an MSc in International Business and Human Resource Management.
She has completed advanced perinatal mental health training through Postpartum Support International and professional training in mobile application development.
Alongside leading MIKEDCAREs, she works within the NHS Specialist Perinatal Community Mental Health Service as a Perinatal Engagement Worker and serves as a Research Assistant with Aston University’s Pharmacoepidemiology Research Team, contributing to maternal and child health research.
This combination of clinical practice, research, lived community engagement, and digital innovation has shaped the development of MIKEDCAREs’ approach to maternal wellbeing.
Rather than building solutions in isolation, the organisation has developed its model through direct engagement with thousands of mothers and families.
To date, MIKEDCAREs has supported more than 4,700 women, 563 fathers, and over 7,000 families across the UK and internationally through education, support programmes, community initiatives, and maternal wellbeing interventions.
Looking Ahead
With additional community programmes already planned, including the next Connected Mom Conference scheduled for October 2026, MIKEDCAREs is continuing to expand its reach while refining its digital support model.
Future plans include growing community partnerships, expanding maternal wellbeing programming, strengthening referral pathways, and progressing development of its digital maternal support platform.
For Ishola, the long-term goal remains consistent:
To ensure that every mother, regardless of background, postcode, or circumstance, can access timely, culturally responsive support leveraging technology, before challenges escalate into crisis.
As conversations around digital health innovation continue to grow, MIKEDCAREs offers an example of how community engagement, healthcare expertise, research, and technology can work together to build more accessible systems of support for families.
Edidiong Ishola is the founder and director of Operations & Research Lead at MIKEDCAREs CIC. She is also a Research Assistant with Aston University’s Pharmacoepidemiology Research Team and a Perinatal Engagement Worker within the NHS Specialist Perinatal Community Mental Health Service.
