Help for beating those ‘baby blues’

Press, 5 August 1985, Page 8

Help for beating those ‘baby blues’

Making it happen

Post-natal depression is a condition which hasn’t always been taken seriously by people, including general practitioners. But Christchurch nurses, midwives, community health workers, and others dealing with women with young children are so concerned about the incidence of the “baby blues” that they are setting up a support system for sufferers. At a public meeting a fortnight ago, attended by some 50 people, among them women with the problem as well as those who have experienced it in the past, it became clear that a specific service needed to be provided. The most women can hope for at the moment is a sympathetic G.P. or help from some other organisation, but it was felt that these agencies aren’t really geared up for dealing with the problem — and anyway, a depressed person isn’t motivated to search around for help. Those at the meeting felt that women should be able to telephone a special number for help, and that this should be followed by a home visit and some practical help, like child-minding. “When you’re feeling down, one thing you can do without much hassle is make a phone call,” says Parents’ Centre committee member Lois Page. It was also felt that those staffing the phone should have had experiencee of post-natal depression themselves.

“What came out loud and clear is that these women want to talk to other women who have suffered and survived,” she adds. Now another public meeting has been organised for 7.30 p.m. on August 13, at Hagley House, to set up a network of telephone counsellors — hopefully in every area of the’city — and to discuss ways of offering practical help. Anyone interested in either giving or receiving

help may attend. Any ideas for funding the venture will be appreciated. Enquiries can be made to Lucille, at 39-526, or Lois, at 489-759.

Fair trade Trade Aid, an organisation started in Christchurch to promote trade with developing countries, has just appointed its first woman manager-co-ordinator. Marie Venning, mother of four adult children, is based at the national headquarters at Bexley, working with a staff of six.

Trade Aid was set up by a Christchurch couple, Vi and Richard Cottrell. In the early seventies they worked with Tibetan refugees in India, and, concerned at the powerlesness of these people, yet impressed by their carpet-making, they organised outlets for the carpets back here in New Zealand. The venture attracted church and community groups and since then has “grown like Topsy,” with a warehouse and offices at Bexley and 21 shops throughout the country. Most of the goods sold are handcrafts, made by cooperatives of women in 39 countries, including the Pacific. Large quantities of tea, picked and packed by women in Sri Lanka, are also sold and it is hoped to import coffee from Nicaragua soon. Fair trade is the basis of Trade Aid’s work, explains Marie Venning. “The cooperatives set their own price for their goods, and we pay a percentage in advance. We try to give as much advantage to these third-world workers without having a hand-out mentality.”

New Zealand women are also benefiting from Trade Aid, says Marie. The organisation relies on the hard

work of some 1200 volunteers, mainly women, who are gaining valuable business experience running the shops. “Many of these women are in their 40s and 50s and are finding a new interest and confidence. For some it has been a transition from home to the paid work force,” she says. Christchurch has two Trade Aid shops, one in the Shades, and the other in Riccarton Road. Both are beginning to stock up in preparation for their preChristmas peak time. Trust secretary Many parents of physically disabled children are over-protective, believes Mrs Noelene Mcllroy, the new chairman of the Canterbury branch of the Laura Fergusson Trust. “They do too much for their children when, really, they should be encouraging

inem io oo as inucn w: themselves as possible,” she says. At the Laura Fergusson home in Ham, Christchurch, residents are expected to keep their rooms tidy and take part in a variety of

physical activities, from disabled ski-ing to bell ringing. The 26 residents of the home, aged from 18 to 50, are all partially dependent. Although most are longstay, the home also takes in people short-term — if, perhaps, they need to come to the city for treatment, or so their parents can take a much-needed holiday. Mrs Mcllroy was a founder member of the Laura Fergusson Trust, which was set up in 1974 out of concern for the number of younger physically disabled people placed in geratic wards because there was nowhere else for them. She has been the only women on the board since its inception. Approaching death Death is someething we’d all rather not think about — until we’re confronted with the loss of someone close, or our own death. The experience of dying has attracted a lot of interest in the past 15 years. What are the needs of the dying person? How are relationships affected? How can we accept our lives as they are and not as we would have liked them to be? Approaching Death is the subject of a workshop to be held this week-end (August 10 and August 11) at the Glasshouse, in the Peterborough Centre. Enquiries can be made to Diane Counsel, at 65-381 or 859-967. If it all sounds a bit morbid, consider this: Death teaches us not to live in the past, nor in anxious expectation of the future. Awareness of the finality of death breathes passion into every moment. Compiled by Glenys Walker. Items for consideration in Making it Happen should be addressed to Glenys Walker, Home and People Page, “The Press,” P. O. Box 1005, Christchurch.