My book on how to support someone after a miscarriage, ectopic or molar pregnancy has been published. It has information on miscarriage, ectopic and molar pregnancies, the possible physical and emotional impacts and other related issues. It explores how to talk about them, practical matters, providing ongoing support and helping someone through pregnancy after loss….
18 years ago I was prescribed antidepressants as if they were painkillers. Now I think I’m stuck on them for life.
18 years ago a doctor prescribed me antidepressants as if they were painkillers. I’ve tried to reduce my dose or come off them many times since. Now I think I’m stuck on them for life. Usually I’m OK with this. But sometimes it feels quite scary. Yesterday I heard a radio report about a new…
Miscarriage Association workplace resources published
The Miscarriage Association has recently published a hub of information and support resources for employees, employers, managers, colleagues and HR staff. After a year spent researching, writing and creating the information, case studies and films, it’s fantastic to see them live. Ironically, I suffered a missed miscarriage during this time. Needless to say the Miscarriage…
Women at Work – presentation and podcast for the Work Body Ready event
1915 In 1915, Margaret Llewelyn Davies edited and published ‘Maternity – Letters From Working Women’. This moving collection of letters from members of the Women’s Co-operative Guild details their experiences of pregnancy, miscarriage, childbirth, stillbirth, infant death and parenting. At the end of every letter was listed the family salary and the number of miscarriages,…
A tiny bundle of hope – remembering Sprout this Baby Loss Awareness Week
Today is the start of Baby Loss Awareness Week 2019. A week to remember babies who were lost in pregnancy, during birth or soon afterwards. I wanted to write something in honour of little Sprout whom we lost in August. Sprout was only on the brink of being – a seven-week-old embryo whose heart had…
‘Supporting someone you know’ – new Miscarriage Association resource online now
I’m pleased to report that my rewrite of the Supporting someone you know leaflet from the Miscarriage Association is online and in print now. We identified the need to update this resource as part of the pregnancy loss and mental health project – but obviously its application is much wider. We didn’t do any resource-specific…
Workplace mental health hub highly commended at the BMA Patient Information Awards.
In 2017 I developed a content plan and wrote 26 articles for Bupa’s new workplace mental health hub. I used to be a workplace ‘health check’ consultant for Time to Change and I enjoyed using my knowledge and experience of the issues involved to create resources that would help organisations make positive change. All the…
Moderating a Facebook-based peer support group. Training for Hemihelp staff and volunteers
I recently worked with Hemihelp (now part of Contact) to help them train volunteer moderators for their peer support group on Facebook. The group was established in 2007 and became more active in 2011. It has over 5,000 members and over 11,000 interactions each month. It seems to be a strong community with a lot…
Pregnancy loss and mental health – new resources online now
I have just finished researching and developing a series of resources around pregnancy loss and mental health for the Miscarriage Association. Research I did extensive desk research and conducted a survey of the Miscarriage Associations supporters and stakeholders. In one week we received 1716 responses from people who self-identified as having had mental health problems…
My dark thoughts look for my most vulnerable spot – and now that’s my amazing and exhausting little boy (some thoughts on parenting and mental health).
I’m writing this to make sense of how I felt yesterday. I’m sharing it because I’m sure I’m not alone. Parenting is really hard and parenting with mental health problems can sometimes be a real struggle. Like many of us, I’ve managed mental health problems most of my life. Mainly eating problems, anxiety and depression….
Community moderation training licensed to Cardiff Women’s Aid
I have recently licensed my community moderation training package to Cardiff Women’s Aid. As part of this three-year licence, they received an initial training session and feedback on participants practice activities, bespoke training resources and trainer’s notes, a train the trainer Skype session and a draft moderation handbook for their ongoing use. I have also…
WRISK – understanding and improving communication of risk during pregnancy
The WRISK project is a collaboration between the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (bpas) and Heather Trickey at the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University. They are aiming to draw on women’s experiences to understand and improve the development and communication of risk messages in pregnancy. They asked me to blog about my experience of…
Co-creating new resources with Action on Postpartum Psychosis
In 2013 I ran a training session for Action on Postpartum Psychosis on giving peer support online as part of their award-winning peer support programme. I’ve been working with them ever since. I’ve done a further five training sessions, including one when heavily pregnant and another four months after Oaklan was born. Now my maternity leave…
Veganism and eating problems – I think I’m finally ready to go back to veganism for the ‘right’ reasons
In 2015 I did Veganuary. Controlling my food intake and restricting or cutting out certain foods contributed to a return of disordered eating problems. Food and eating – or not eating – took over my thoughts. Despite moving away from a completely vegan diet, I continued to restrict my food and purge through exercise. I…