With Mental Health Week coming to an end this weekend, as well as Mother’s Day being celebrated on Sunday, today we’re taking a look at the role of mental health for parents – and the importance it has on newborn babies.
Allie Witek is an Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist, who also works as a Perinatal Mental Health professional.
She says mental health plays a huge factor for parents, especially in the early days as of a newborn’s life.
1 in 5 birthing parents and 1 in 10 non-birthing parents experience some sort of perinatal mood disorder.
Witek adds that another factor in mental health with newborns is that often times, people will ask about the baby more than the parents, who can be struggling themselves.
According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, those who have pre-existing mental illness are more at risk at experience perinatal mood disorders, so getting help is essential to avoid a relapse at this stage of a baby’s development.
Witek says a lot of parents are experiencing different emotions after childbirth, which can look like a lot of different things.
Across Canada every May, including in Niagara, each year an event called ‘Flora’s Walk’ is held in support of perinatal mental health – with money raised supporting programs that support new parents.
The walk is named after a Canadian woman, Flora Babakhani, who tragically lost her life in 2022 to undetected, undiagnosed and untreated postpartum psychosis. It is Canada’s largest perinatal mental health fundraiser taking place in over 50 cities across Canada.
Since 2022, over 100 organizations who have received funds through Flora’s Walk have provided free to low cost support groups and therapy across Canada.
(Written by: Matt Latour)
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