6th May 2021
In support of Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week (3-9 May 2021 – #MMHWeek2021), a lovely poem by Eileen O’Sullivan, Specialist PIMH Health Visitor (South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust), to parents about reaching out for support – to recognise the challenges that new parents have faced during the last year, but also the challenges that health visitors have had in having to carry out their HV roles differently.
Eileen O’Sullivan – Specialist PIMH Health Visitor (South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust)
Dear Parent,
A quick message from me, your Health Visitor, I just wanted you to know,
That when you are talking to me, it’s okay to let your feelings show.
If things are seeming difficult or not how you expected them to be,
And your dreams of this thing called parenting, look so different in reality
I hope you know that I am here to talk it through with you,
Weighing babies is not the only thing that your health visitor can do.
And even that has been quite difficult in this Covid19 year,
When our service has looked so different from the normal one we hold so dear.
We have tried to support you digitally and on the telephone,
But that might not have always helped if you felt you were struggling alone.
We might have come to your house in our full PPE,
It felt so strange wearing a mask – I hope you still felt you could connect with me.
This year has been so difficult – different boats, same storm,
And we have all lived, and parented, in a way that is so different from the norm,
I want you to know that as your Health Visitor, I am still here and that I care,
Reach out if you need support, or just someone to listen – rest assured, I will be there.
