Like the Home-Start visit, the devotion of time to share and acknowledge our feelings, can be empowering and a step towards self-understanding, management and confidence. It is a both a conversation thread and a communion of ideas and opinions where there is a relationship of trust and non-judgemental support. We also chat about antenatal depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, postnatal psychosis and other areas of mental health. Each week, we discuss a different theme and we are not limited to just PND. PND and Me is very easy to find on a Wednesday evening, carrying the hashtag #PNDHour on Twitter.
It takes time and help, from professionals (crucial!) but peer support can also play an important part in recovery. Sufferers need to hear that they are worth so much and can get better. The little voice in your head that can say “You are worthless”? Ignore it. I know now that she needed me and it was PND that made me feel that way. I thought it was just me who wasn’t coping, that I didn’t deserve my baby girl and sometimes I thought that she would be better off without me. When I was in the depths of PND I felt completely alone.
Pnd come see me download full#
PND has a way of making you feel isolated even when you’re in a room full of people, especially other mums, because you can’t help but feel you are the only one not coping but here’s the thing you are not alone. PND and isolation often come hand in hand. Social media, by its very nature, is emerging as a navigable and powerful channel of online support for people to share experiences safely, to pause and have their feelings validated in a comfortable and meaningful way. It is an online peer support network on Twitter for those, like me, who can feel isolated from the world. I suffered from antenatal and postnatal depression (PND) with each of my three children and now help other parents to connect, support and empower each other to overcome maternal mental Illness.īecause of my experiences, I founded PND and Me in 2014. Mental health issues, low self-esteem and social isolation are the most common needs identified by health visitors when they refer families to Home-Start UK and when families refer themselves.Īcknowledgement and reaching out for help is often the greatest and most difficult step.