My services are full at the wrong end.
My name is Christina Bond, a NZ registered psychologist, working in private practice in Christchurch specalising in maternal mental health.
I co-founded a social enterprise, Matrescence NZ, with my sister Samantha. We deliver antenatal education uniquely focused on perinatal well-being and the fourth trimester. Exactly what recent media articles and perinatal advocates have been calling out for. We also provide postpartum educational groups and professional development for health professionals.
At times my therapy services have had wait lists of months, yet in our antenatal education we have spaces available. I’m seeing people at the wrong end. I have more capacity to see people in group education settings working towards prevention and early intervention. This is a much better use of resources and leads to better outcomes for mum, baby and family.
Perinatal distress is largely preventable
The Helen Clark foundation reports perinatal distress affects up to 50% of birthing parents and possibly as high as 43% for non-birthing parents. Perinatal distress is an umbrella term to describe symptoms of mental health conditions (such as depression, anxiety, OCD) that affect parents during pregnancy and the first 1-2 years after birth.
The antenatal education we deliver through Matrescence NZ, raises awareness and normalizes the challenges of being parents, as well as provides evidence-based strategies to work through the challenges. Just by knowing what challenges to expect, this can boost emotional resilience. We share the realities of how hard it can be as well as strategies and parents-to-be leave feeling more confident about their pending transition.
Preparing for birth and labour is absolutely important, but putting it into perspective it’s 1-2 days of the motherhood journey, with professionals there for support. The perinatal period spans across months and years, without professionals there every step of the way (although there are supports available).
Improving perinatal mental health is a complex issue and our workshops are only one piece of the puzzle. There are many unhelpful social constructs about motherhood we need to break down, as well as looking at how we evolved to parent, and it wasn’t in nuclear families. WE NEED OUR VILLAGES. Research shows time and time again support is a significant protective factor of perinatal distress.
What do we cover in our antenatal classes?
We cover topics such as:
What to expect from a psychological and emotional perspective in the first few days, weeks and months;
Perinatal mental health conditions, signs and symptoms, as well differentiating them from normal mum worries, baby blues and matrescence;
We provide a postpartum plan to support parents to prepare for the fourth trimester, with information, activities and discussions about self-care plans, finances, relationships, nutrition and support;
Attachment theory (facts and myths);
We discuss expectations vs reality including that you can’t fully prepare, but you can develop skills for managing the uncertainty, the doubt, the overwhelming information overload and the unsolicited advice;
Emotional regulation strategies;
CBT and ACT strategies to help parents change their experience of challenging situations when they can’t change the situation itself
And so much more.
The feedback we receive has been phenomenally positive, but unfortunately, you don’t know what you don’t know. It’s not usually until you’re in the postpartum period and struggling that you realise how valuable this information could have been. We need to talk about matrescence, the real challenges of parenthood and shift our focus on preparation of the nursery to preparation to enhance maternal wellbeing. This is a societal issue. We’d love to be supporting parents-to-be at the top of the cliff not the bottom.
Our unique classes cost less than 1 therapy session.
Research suggests this investment will likely lead to better outcomes for mum, baby and the wider family and may even help reduce birth trauma symptoms.
For more information visit matrescence.nz
