Hi Noodles
Sorry I have not been around much on the forum - I an unwell and I have course work I have to finish as I have a deadline - but I will reply to your email and post this reply here on he forum - I hope it is not too late?
Congratulations on being asked to do this
I know it is very daunting - I still find it so , but I know you will do it well.
As to tips - well I can only tel you how I do it .............
This is difficult one as I have done such talks but often feel I do not get it right myself .
As it is an issue I feel very strongly about from both a personal and a 'professional point of view so it is difficult to know where to pitch it, especially when I am talking to those who I already know!
I will say what I do and you will have to adapt it to your situation and the group you are addressing
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I have in the past often come over in such talks from too personal a level or two distant, so now I try to avoid either - it is difficult to get this right I find and I have to admit that in the past I have found doing such a talk is very upsetting AS I HAVE RELATED IT TO MYSELF TOO CLOSELY although now I have learned do it more objectively but still retain the personal experience bit.
All I can say is the way I have found works best is to do the talk from a 'general rather than specific personal experience ' point of view - i.e personal and with recognition that you suffer or suffered it yourself - but not too specifically related to your own PNI.
I talk in the main from the point of view as a sufferer or survivor - but back it up with material from other sources ( after all I am not a 'professional in PNI and my interest stems from having it myself
so it has to be personal to a degree - but there are lots of information to back up my experience not being unique to me!!! and that many women suffer it and experience much of the same issues that I did!
I have often used information from our own site - for instance I have printed out the list of symptoms on our main site :
www.pni.org.uk and used it as a handout as a beginning point - in some groups I have talked about how many of these symptoms I experienced and how while some MAY be common for most mothers of a new baby but how many may be unique to those who suffer PNI
- and what might make the difference between the difficulties of looking after a new baby and what are difficulties are unique having PNI ( I have done this suing a brainstorm exercise of created questionnaire where they tick off those symptoms and issues that they feel are common to all mothers of babies and young children and those they feel are unique to PNI
I have also cut and pasted bits of post s from the forum ( hiding any names or anything that could identify anyone ) to illustrate points such how much having PNI can affect and disrupt the lives of the woman and the family of a sufferer and to demonstrate that Post Natal Illness is a something that it is important to get help and support for and the common themes of PNI such as Anxiety , what if thoughts and more obsessive thoughts, physical symptoms that many get but we donto alwasy realise they are due to pNI ( i.e breathlessness, vision problems, aches and pains etc ) lack of self esteem, feelings of being an inadequate or 'bad mother ( I have printed off part of posts from 'common themes' etc
I have also used information from the APNI website - their leaflets you can download and print off are particularly helpful to print and distribute
- and their statements such as :
'post-natal illness affects between 70,000 and 100,000 women and their babies in the UK every year. It is rightly called 'the silent epidemic'.
'Remember PNI is an illness and mothers who suffer from it WILL recover'
I have often included a brainstorm in my talk about what someone can do if they suspect they or a relative has PNI
and what might get in the way of someone seeking help i.e stigma, fear of children being taken away, fear of being judge as a 'bad mother.
I usually finish up with information on what support and treatment IS available as this is one of the most important aspects of doing a talk like this with mothers of young children. You never know how many of those you are talking to may have PNI and are suffering in silence - or may be if they are fine with this birth may suffer with a later birth. So the information you give now about treatment and support might be very important now or one day to the women you are talking to
So I try to provide a handout or list of web sites and leaflets of help that is available and the types of service provided ( including a leaflet about this forum and PNI ORG UK ) you can download our leaflets here:
www.pni.org.uk/info.htm you are welcome to use anything from our site
I go through:
what avenues a women with PNI may explore ranging from what a GP can offer i.e medication, cognitive therapy, referral on to a mental health team and a CPN
The important part a sympathetic HV or GP can play
Mother and Baby Units and specialist perenatal units - but stress these are few and far between
Home Start - volunteers that visit you at home
Sure Start - some Sure Starts run support groups
NCT has been useful to some women
Self help groups like ours and others - both online and face to face or telephone like APNI - I usually have a handout of all of these ( I would have sent one to you but I can not find it on my PC at the moment)
How a difficult birth can make it more likely that you get PNI and where you can go for help i.e
www.birthtraumaassociation.org.uk/: www.tabs.org.nz/Sorry if this is a bit hastily put together - if I had had more time I would have maybe been able to find one of my outlines for talks I have done in the past - but I will continue to look for it and email it to you if I find it in time .
Good luck with the talk however - let me know how it goes
All the best
Veritee