Wairarapa Midweek Wed 1st Dec

Page 1

Wairarapa’s locally owned community newspaper

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2021

INSIDE: Lockdown offer s a chance to write P3

P6

Double Harvest plans for 2022 ARE YOU A VIP CUSTOMER? Read ‘Garden Yarn’ on Page 9 to find out if you’re one of our winners

2 x $25 GARDENBARN VOUCHERS TO BE WON EACH DAY

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‘A time to remember’

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‘Where you go ... we go’ ERIN KAVANAGH-HALL meets the women helping Wairarapa parents on their mental health journey. When asked to describe her experience of postnatal depression, Abby Hollingsworth is matter of fact: “It’s like being down in the depths of the ocean, and you’ve got no idea which way is up.” “I’d had enough–- I was tried, and everything seemed never-ending,” she says. “I saw the pain in my husband. I thought I was failing my kids. I thought my only option was to die – that way, people could just move on with their lives. “Post-natal depression is more than just ‘the baby blues’. It can be deadly.” Masterton mum-of-three Abby is the director of operations for The Ruth Project Wairarapa, a non-profit, community-based organisation, set up to support and “walk alongside families throughout their perinatal mental health journey”. The Ruth Project, founded by Abby with close friends Hannah Kirkland and Helle Rosenberg in 2019, and supported by a pool of volunteers, supports families affected by mental distress to “survive between the appointments” – helping them to adjust to and manage day-to-day life with a new baby. With close to 100 families on its books, the organisation offers everything from coffee mornings and support groups, to practical support around the house, to food deliveries, to simply having “someone come and cuddle baby so Mum can have a shower”. The organisation, open to people of all backgrounds and cultures, is named for the Biblical figure of Ruth, specifically this quote from Ruth to her mother-inlaw Naomi: “Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your

people shall be my people, and your God my God.” The Ruth Project was inspired by Abby’s own journey with severe postnatal depression and anxiety, from which she feels “lucky to escape with [her] life.” Her experience is far from unique: worldwide, an estimated one in seven mothers, and one in 10 fathers, experience mental distress following the birth of a child. The goal of the Ruth Project, Abby says, is to be “the fence at the top of the cliff ” – filling gaps within the health system, and providing early intervention before families’ mental health “We keep saying that it takes a village to raise a child – and the community needs to be prepared to step up and be that village,” she says. “Our doctors, nurses and midwives are awesome, but they often don’t have the resources to help outside of their health portfolio. “People may, for example, be getting help from a psychologist or counsellor – but in the meantime, they’re overwhelmed, they need to fold the laundry and pick up the groceries, and they just need someone to sit them down and make a cup of tea. They feel like they can’t ask for help,

because they’re scared to be a burden on friends and family.” “So, that’s where we come in – offering that extra pair of hands and building that supportive and loving village.” Abby, mum to Lucy, Zane and Troy, struggled with depression and anxiety

after the births of all three children – which she says was compounded by work pressures and unresolved grief from previous miscarriages. Plus, her children are all close in age, giving her body little time to recover Continued on page 3

Abby Hollingsworth (left) and Hannah Kirkland, two of the founders of The Ruth Project Wairarapa. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

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