#140 Why we need to talk about Maternal Mental Health

Welcome to the 140th episode of the award-winning Diverse Minds podcast. This month, as it's Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week and this year’s theme is loneliness, we are going to be focussing on supporting the Mental Health of various groups and combating loneliness. 

In today’s show

• About the Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week. [01:46]
• How different cultures perceive mental illness related to pregnancy. [02:53]
• What is post-natal depression? [04:19]
• How post-natal depression can affect some mothers. [20:27]
• Some tips for employers on how to manage returning parents. [07:21]

Quotes

• Around 20% of women experience perinatal mental illness.
• Often, when we talk about mental ill-health in the workplace, we related to stress but of course, that stress could be internal it could be external.
• After giving birth to a child, many mothers experience or can experience a period of mental ill-health known as postnatal depression.
• Having a family and giving someone is a life-changing event and can have lasting effects on parents, emotionally and physically.
• For some, returning to work as a parent can be highly stressful, so employers need to be aware of the potential strain and how the returning parent, in particular, the mother, wants to manage her mental well being, her parenting and also her role at work.

Resources

• Leave me an anonymous message on my Speakpipe
• Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week
• Listen to Episode 135: Recognising Different Ways to Have a Family
• Check out Episode 65: Why Training isn’t a Panacea
• Listen to Episode 97: The art of listening to support someone
• Postnatal depression and perinatal mental health

Work with me

Have a look at my online work-life balance course on Thinkific. You can access it here: http://bit.ly/DMMHPONC