The listening Campaign
Did You Give Birth During The Pandemic?
We want to hear your story!
A Listening Campaign - What Is It?
A listening campaign is a focused effort to build community and identify concerns and priorities within a specific sector of the population.
In this regard, the campaign is being used to provide a safe outlet for mothers and parents to share their stories of birth and postpartum during the pandemic; to identity needs or lack thereof; and to highlight concerns they would like brought to public officials.
Due to current mandates, ‘listening’ will be accomplished through one-on-one recorded phone conversations encouraging mothers and parents to:
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Talk about how they experience life as a new parent under current regulations and mandates
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Identify the issues that they care about and want the public sector to hear
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Share concerns or questions they would like the government to address as part of a public agenda
These Are Indeed Unprecedented Times
THE PAST YEAR HAS ADDED AN EXTRAORDINARY AMOUNT OF TRAUMATIC STRESS TO NEW PARENTS
Parenthood, in and of itself, is a highly stressful time. However, the additional stressors imposed by government mandates in response to the global pandemic are contributing to a rise in a collective mental health crisis.
New parents are extra vulnerable.
Isolation has always been a contributing factor in postpartum mood struggles. Many new parents no longer have access to the main support systems they would have drawn upon prior to March 2020. These new and sudden changes within the childbirth continuum have indeed resulted in a rise in postpartum mood struggles. The birthing woman or person is faced with all kinds of new protocols such as: wearing masks during this extraneous event; not having their loved ones or support people in attendance; having to choose only one support person to be present during the birth; experiencing extra fear about the risk of contagion; extra protocols being implemented in the immediate postpartum, to name a few.
In response to this emerging perinatal mental health concern, that has far-reaching implications, we are raising funds to (a) Conduct a listening campaign and, (b) Provide bursary for counselling services to those who are financially vulnerable.
The Overarching Purpose
We want to help by ...
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Connecting stories
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Building relationships and reduce isolation
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Lessening the stigma still associated with mental health
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Identifing leaders in the community and connects them
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Raising awareness about how deeply or broadly people are affected by these specific issues
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Identifing issues parents are concerned about and willing to work on
Your Story Matters!
The collection of voices and stories is a powerful way to conduct research and inform the public sector about perinatal needs.
What will be done with the data collected?
Once the campaign has reached a minimum of 100 participants to a maximum of 1000 participants, the data will be reviewed, and important talking points will be highlighted and organized qualitatively by themes.
At which point, the data collected can be used to inform the public and government officials on the impacts that the pandemic is having on the mental health of new mothers and parents. After which, the report will outline suggestions to address these concerns.
Although we may have some ideas about what is needed to better support the perinatal population across Canada, the stories told will paint a real picture of today's families and the struggles they are experiencing.
Who Is Conducting the Listening Campaign?
Who will be conducting the campaign?
Jennifer Summerfeldt, CEO (Chief Empathy Officer) of ASK Therapy a division of JS Coaching Group Inc., will be conducting the one-on-one conversations. Jennifer holds a MA in Counselling Psychology, is a Certified Canadian Counsellor, an educator, and an author. All conversations will follow the CCPA counselling ethical guidelines.
Any Canadian family member who has experienced childbirth and postpartum during the 2020/2021 pandemic is invited to participate in the listening campaign.