Alison J Cook Perinatal Counselling and Parenting Support in Queanbeyan, New South Wales | Medical and health

Alison J Cook Perinatal Counselling and Parenting Support

Locality: Queanbeyan, New South Wales

Phone: +61 2 6255 8112

Address: The Surgery at Jerra, 1/37 Jerrabomberra Parkway 2619 Queanbeyan, NSW, Australia

Website: http://www.alisonjcook.com.au

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• Medical and health
• Alternative & holistic health service
• Mental health service

23.01.2022 Some tips to help you keep it together...

21.01.2022 It's Mental Health Week - take a break!

18.01.2022 So it’s World Mental Health Day, as you probably already know if you’ve been anywhere on the internet today. It is, in fact, the 25th anniversary of the first ...World Mental Health Day, way back in 1992. I was fifteen in 1992, and mental health was something that wasn’t talked about- not in a positive way. For many people back then, to have a mental illness was something to be ashamed of and hidden. Not quite the Victorian days of locking ‘hysterical’ women away in asylums to hide their shame, or going to publicly mock the inmates of Bedlam as a pleasant Sunday afternoon’s entertainment, but it still wasn’t something that people discussed openly. When I had my first child and was drowning hopelessly in the abyss of post natal depression, it still wasn’t something that was talked about. I knew PND existed of course, but it wasn’t something that was openly addressed, it was still (to my messed up, suicidal mind) some sort of a sign of failure. Even when I had my second baby, and started losing my mind all over again, it was STILL not something easily admitted to. I'll always remember sitting at Mother and Toddlers, looking at all the other mothers, who were smiling and coping, and were all clearly absolutely FINE, and knowing, just KNOWING that I was definitely the only who felt like that, who was failing again. It was years before I knew the statistics about pre and post natal depression and psychosis- that it affects around 1 in 5 women, and so at least 20% of those other, ‘better’ mothers I sat and envied were feeling at least as bad, if not worse, than I was, and I most certainly wasn’t alone. But things are getting better. Social media and tag lines like ‘It’s OK not to be OK’ help get the message out there, and World Mental Health Day and other initiatives are removing the taboos, making mental health and mental illness something that we shouldn’t be ashamed of, something we SHOULD be able talk about as readily as physical health and illness. And talking about it is the very best thing we can do. Apart from the fact that just admitting you are struggling often helps, the more people talking about their own issues with mental health, then the more the stigma decreases and the more people will feel able to open up in turn, because mental health issues will affect 1 in 4 people. There is a huge way still to go though. Massive strides have been made, especially for women’s mental health, perhaps because women suffered so atrociously under previous attitudes, and in maternal mental health in particular, organisations like PANDAS are providing invaluable services. But what about our boys? The advances in women’s mental health are probably helped by the fact that women are more likely to talk to each other about their ‘feelings’ or ‘emotional stuff’, but is that nature or nurture? I honestly don’t know, but what I do know is that I have watched my son and his friends struggle to hold in their tears and emotions from a frighteningly young age, in a way my daughter and her friends never seemed to, which suggests that society somehow, probably through TV shows and peer pressure, is still making our sons feel they have to ‘man up’ and that ‘boys don’t cry’ and that they should be repressing the feelings that it somehow is all right for the girls to let out, for fear they are seen as being ‘girly’ themselves. And perhaps these old fashioned attitudes about male emotions are why suicide is still the main cause of death among men under 45? Which is a terrifying thought for anyone with a son, a brother, a father, a friend. I tell my son repeatedly that it’s OK if he needs to cry, it’s fine to let it out, it’s perfectly all right to feel sad or scared or lonely sometimes, and that there’s definitely nothing wrong with talking about those feelings. But I can see that the louder voices from outside are starting to drown that out, and that he already is trying to ‘man up’ about his negative emotions. So maybe this World Mental Health Day, while obviously there is still an enormous amount that needs addressed in all areas of mental health, including the shameful lack of funding and resources available for those who need help, maybe we should also focus on making sure our boys, whether they’re our sons, nephews, brothers, partners or friends, feel they can talk about their mental health too, and get rid of the out dated notion that boys don’t cry, and expressing emotions is somehow ‘unmanly’. Our boys need to know that in 2017, actually talking about that kind of thing is incredibly brave, and sometimes asking for help takes far more strength than bottling up problems and fears, and they need to know that it’s OK for them not to be OK too. #WorldMentalHealthDay #ItsOKNotToBeOK #TalkToYourBoys #BoysCanCryToo

03.01.2022 It is with great regret that I will be closing at the end of the year due to ongoing medical issues. I will not be taking any new referrals from this week, but can provide some alternatives if you would like recommendations. Thank you all for being the best parents you can possibly be.