JOIN US FOR BELL LET’S TALK DAY
Bell Let’s Talk Day is one of the biggest days of the year to raise awareness and eliminate the stigma that surrounds mental health issues across this country. The Bell Let’s Talk campaign also raises much needed funding for programming all across Canada. Last year’s event totalled over 6.9 million dollars! This year will be even stronger. In fact, we want to make it the most successful Bell Let’s Talk Day to date by putting Maternal Mental Health on the map!
One in five new mothers will experience a postpartum mood & anxiety disorder like postpartum depression, anxiety or OCD, but only a fraction of those mothers actually get the treatment they deserve. Symptoms can range from sadness, irritability, emotional numbness to terrifying intrusive thoughts and full-blown rage! Our centre is working to create easy access to education and support including counselling, naturopathic medicine and much needed social support through our Postpartum Wellness Program that includes many drop-in classes and sessions.
Related: Postpartum Depression is difficult. Getting help shouldn’t be. Learn more about getting help for Postpartum Depression and Anxiety.
Bell Let’s Talk day is Wednesday, January 30th and we have a jampacked day full of in-centre presentations and Facebook live presentations coming your way! Here’s how you can get involved and we hope you can join us!
9:00-11:00 am- “Nobody Tells You” Photo shoot with Elisha Weger from Elisha & Co Photography
Even though it’s 2019 we are still not talking about the realities of motherhood, let alone the realities of postpartum mood disorders. So this year we are shedding light on all things “Nobody Tells You” about motherhood and postpartum mental health. To start the day off we have partnered with the amazing Elisha Weger from Elisha & Co Photography. Together we will be hosting an in-centre photoshoot from 9:00-11:00. We are inviting moms to come down to the centre, take a photo, and of course, share their own #NobodyTellsYou experience. We will be posting the photos online throughout the day so that new mothers feel less alone in their battle with PPD. Come join us!
If you would like to join us for this photo shoot, please sign up here. Snacks and coffee will be provided and it’s going to be a really fun morning!
If you can’t make it down to the centre that morning, we’re asking moms to still join us by jumping online and sharing a photo of themselves with their baby and their own #NobodyTellsYou quote! Motherhood is full of things we are not prepared for, both light and heavy. Share yours with us!
10:00 am- Join Speech and Language Pathologist Nichole Forbes for a presentation on early childhood attachment and how we can support and protect our children through a postpartum mood disorder.
Postpartum Mood & Anxiety Disorders (PMAD) are something that affects the whole family including our children. Research has shown that untreated perinatal mental health issues have lasting effects on the development of the child including delayed cognitive and language development, disorganized or insecure attachment, higher rates of behavioural problems, inability to regulate emotions and increased risk of mental health issues later in life.
We want to help new mothers understand the importance of the “serve and return” relationship and give them concrete tools to use during challenging days. Join us for a short presentation followed by a Q & A session and open conversation.
12:00 pm- Join us online for a Facebook Live as we launch the brand new Canadian Perinatal Mental Health Collaborative!
Stigma, lack of public and professional awareness, and leaving the onus on the mothers to reach out for help, results in only 15% of mothers who experience a PMAD receiving professional treatment.
The Canadian Perinatal Mental Health Collaborative (CPMHC) is a group of moms, dads, advocates, and professionals working to get a national strategy for perinatal mental health care in Canada via federal government legislation so that women and men in every province and territory can have access to screening and treatment for perinatal mental illnesses by law.
Our first national campaign is to get #ONTHEAGENDA for the provincial/territorial health ministers’ meeting in spring 2019.
We are asking for the ministers of health across Canada to work with us to develop a perinatal mental health strategy to include public and professional awareness, mandatory universal screening, and increased access to treatment options such as support groups, medication, counselling, or hospitalization to all pregnant and postpartum women and their families experiencing a perinatal mental illness.
The facebook live will be happing at 12:00 pm over on the CPMHC Facebook page!
You can get involved by signing the petition now!