Mothers who have battled depression and anxiety join forces to create positive greeting cards to help other parents struggling through isolation
- Women who have faced mental health challenges have created uplifting cards
- Aiming to cheer up mothers who are struggling with life in the lockdown
- The range marks mental health awareness week, which starts on Monday
Women have joined forces to create uplifting cards that can be sent to show support to struggling mothers for mental health awareness week.
Women from across the UK lent their creative talents to design the greeting cards, which reflect the empowering, life-affirming and difficult world of motherhood.
The cards, designed in collaboration with card app TouchNote, are all based around the theme of 'kindness' and mark mental health awareness week, which starts on Monday. All profits go to the Mental Health Foundation.
Each card was created by women who experienced who struggled with low mental health issues in their lives, or found motherhood too much to bear, and coped with the help of loved ones or other mother who supported them through tough time.
All cards can be personalised and posted through the app, without the need to leave the house.
'I struggled to cope after the birth of my baby'
Eleanor King, a mother-of-three, took part in the initiative, and said she was struggling to cope after the birth of her first baby, but got back on her feet thanks to a local breastfeeding group
Eleanor's card pays homage to the friends she made at her local breastfeeding group, as well as a project she launched since, helping hundreds of new mother cope with breastfeeding around the UK
Eleanor King, a mother-of-three from Southend-on-Sea, took part in the initiative, and said she had struggled to cope after the birth of her first baby. Finding breastfeeding particularly painful, she got in touch with a local breastfeeding group.
'After a long labour with my first baby, I vividly remember being up at 3am in the morning, in floods of silent tears from breastfeeding being so painful, trying not to wake up my husband,' she said.
'What kept me going was the knowledge that there was a local breastfeeding group, just down the road, where I knew that I would be welcomed.
'I knew that there would be other people there who understood, who had been there too, and that I would be listened to.'
Eleanor said she made good friends at the group and was lucky it had been nearby.
She went on to complete the breastfeeding peer supporter training, and later helped other mothers at the Children's Centre. This led her to complete more breastfeeding training with UNICEF, before creating her own project.
'Since we started, the project has gone from strength to strength. This year we have supported 300 families, and I have provided training for over 20 volunteers who were also keen to help other mums too,' she explained.
'There are so many expectations from society on women, particularly on new mums. When people can connect together, and share experiences honestly, kindly and with care, a lot of healing can take place.'
'I felt isolated after giving birth overseas'
Lucy Parson, a mother of two children aged 11 and 13 from Cheltenham, said she felt isolated during her second pregnancy after moving to Germany with her husband, who worked long hours, and started to feel better thanks to other mothers who supported her
Lucy said it's through her exchanges with other mothers that she realised there was no such a thing as a perfect mother. She drew flowers on her cards in honour of her mother
Lucy Parson, a mother of two children aged 11 and 13, from Cheltenham, said she felt isolated during her second pregnancy after moving to Germany with her husband, who worked long hours.
'I also had a constant feeling that I should be coping. This was what women went through and looking after two young children should come naturally surely? I met some other mums through an International playgroup and that did help,' she said.
'I still felt very isolated and alone, terrified and panicked when the children were ill and every day outings seemed like a huge challenge. Sometimes it seems like the rest of the world is striving forward and you feel Iike the only one who is ten steps behind.
'Later, when we moved back to England, it was the other Mums at the school who helped me realise that none of us are perfect and we’re not meant to be,' she went on.
'So much of being a Mum is finding your own way. There is no training. Following your own heart and asking for help when you need it is part of the journey. We are all just trying our best. Whatever that looks like!'
'I put on a brave face while battling demons inside'
Sarah Simonds, a mother-of-two from East Molesey, Surrey, said she was a 'coper,' who would put on a brave face while struggling and sinking deeper into distress
After years of struggling to find professional help for her depression, Sarah said she learned to cope better with her mental health issues, and infused a message of positivity in her cards
One of Sarah's card, titled 'I'm here for you, always' shows that one single person can keep mothers' grounded when they feel they can't cope
Sarah Simonds, a mother-of-two from East Molesey, Surrey, said she was a 'coper,' who would put on a brave face while struggling and sinking deeper into distress.
'I portrayed an external façade that said everything was fine. I never asked for help, it just felt easier do things by myself,' she explained.
With her two sons being born 13 months apart, Sarah said she decided to give up work, which subjected her to feeling isolated and overwhelmed.
'I had no idea I was struggling at the time, I genuinely thought I was coping and this was my new normal,' she said.
'But looking back I often found myself crying inconsolably over the slightest thing and getting angry over petty stuff. I still kept going but the world around me was closing in.'
Sarah explained she stopped seeing people and later realise she was suffering from depression and was prescribed sleeping pills by one GP and anti-depressants by another.
She managed to get some counselling for her mental health issues and go better with the help of a psychotherapist and art therapy.
'My message to anyone who is struggling after childbirth is simply don’t be embarrassed to seek help, don’t give up trying to get help if it is not offered, do make sure you find people who will listen, as it might not be your partner or your family you can turn to you may have to reach out further,' she said.
'I wish there was more help offered more openly and freely wen I was going through this at the beginning, there wasn’t. Things have improved hugely over the years and mental health now is not considered such a stigma.'
Lending support: Women involved in the card project
Left: Rebekah McDougall, from New Zealand, is a qualified counsellor and the founder of Journey to Wellness, a platform for mental health advocacy. She said she wanted to encourage people to be kinder to themselves. Right: Helene Weston, an illustrator from Cornwall, explained she was a 'knackered mother-of-one' who lived with Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Rebekah's card, titled 'That what you need,' is meant to highlight the power of self-compassion bu presenting jars full of positive contents mothers should turn to when feeling overwhelmed
Helene explained she hoped her illustrations would show fathers and mothers that they are not alone. Her card, titled 'on trend,' is a nod to the new normal during the coronavirus lockdown, with a mother strutting with a face mask on her face, gloves, and a toilet paper roll handbag
With his simple sketch of a mother holding two children, Heartfull, by Catie Atkinson, who also took part in the project, showed that while having children was fulfilling, it demanded a lot of work on mothers
