Vanessa Rio is the founder and director of Mothering Minds, the UK's first platform matching soon-to-be and new parents with specialist therapists for online one-to-one and couples therapy. She lives with her husband on an island in the Philippines, where they're raising their daughter close to nature and community.
← All profilesI won't always measure up, and that's been incredibly freeing.
Vanessa Rio, Mothering Minds
Read it the way it ran in print.
Her cover story runs in the July 2026 issue, pages 7–14. Below is the actual spread, page for page, exactly as it appears in print.
You started Mothering Minds after becoming a mother yourself. What was happening in your own life that made you realize this needed to exist?
I felt confused, and got progressively angrier at what I felt was a severe systemic failing to prepare and support women through motherhood. Speaking to other mothers, I realised many were feeling the same way. When my friend told me she'd been to the GP about her mental health and he'd prescribed antidepressants without even offering her a talk therapy referral, I knew I wanted to change this.
What has motherhood taught you, and what do you hope your daughter sees when she watches you?
I managed to escape the perfectionism that so often kept me from trying things. Motherhood taught me a lot about failure: all the small and big ways in which I fail myself and her. Coming to terms with the fact that, despite my best intentions and efforts, I won't always measure up, has been incredibly freeing.
Read the full feature in the July 2026 issue.
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