Launched to mark World Mental Health Day earlier this month, the campaign is designed to educate, guide and support parents facing mental health difficulties.
Aiming to create a strong support network for parents, Vital Baby has collaborated with the ‘It’s at the heart of what we do’ experts, MANtenatal, The 360 Mamas and psychotherapist Anna Mathur. The initiative is dedicated to providing a wealth of expert advice, mental health resources and practical tools that assist parents to navigate the ups and downs of parenting.
To support and help parents struggling with their own mental health, Anna Mathur shares a few tips to build healthy coping mechanisms and ask for help when needed. From those ‘I just need five minutes’ moments, to finding balance amid the chaos.
Anna explained: “So often, the recognition that we are finding things hard is followed by the sense of failure. Someone might say to themselves ‘I should be finding this easier, I don’t feel good enough’. As a therapist, when working with parents who feel this way, we tend to conclude that they are simply finding hard things hard and that is not a sign of failure or a question of how much you love or are grateful for your child.
“It is natural and expected to feel challenged and stretched at times of immense change and transition. Finding things hard, can however, be a prompt to seek additional resources or support. It is said that ‘parenting takes a village’ yet so often people struggle to accept or seek the support they need and deserve.
“I encourage parents, where they can, to allow others to practically and emotionally support them, and to find those who can validate their experiences of parenting and any specific challenges they face, either online or offline. Having two to three people in your life who support you without judgement meets a fundamental human need to feel seen and connected.”
