And welcome to GOODBEADS!

 

My name is Emma and I decided to create GOODBEADS after suffering from postnatal depression following the birth of my daughter in 2020. After a challenging birth, my first months of motherhood were a haze of anxiety and loneliness. I felt certain I was failing, I was so far from the image of the mother I thought I should be. It took me three months to finally accept that what I was experiencing was postnatal depression. When I plucked up the courage to tell my friends how I was really feeling, I quickly found I wasn’t alone.

 

In the UK, half of all mothers develop a mental health problem before or after birth, according to the National Childbirth Trust. And 10% to 15% experience postnatal depression; many researchers believe the prevalence is even higher. Suicide is the leading cause of death for mothers during their baby’s first year. Research commissioned by the Red Cross and the Co-op in 2016 found that nearly half of mothers under 30 feel lonely often or all the time; 82% feel lonely some of the time. 

 

With the support of my partner, GP, hospital team, as well as my family and friends, I slowly began to piece myself back together. As I recovered, sharing the journey I was going through bonded me to fellow parents in a way I couldn’t have imagined, and I began to see the strength that becoming a mother has given me. 

 

A year later and as my daughter slept, I decided I needed a therapeutic past time to help me relax in the evenings. I revived a hobby of my teens and started making bracelets for my friends, to make them smile. The time I spent threading the beads gave me space to reflect on the year I’d had, how far I’d come, and how much I would like to support other new parents who are experiencing what I did. And so GOODBEADS was born.

 

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£4  from every GOODBEADS sale goes to support PANDAS, a charity for parents experiencing mental illness. PANDAS run free telephone, email and text support lines as well as face to face support groups and much more. To find out more about PANDAS please click here.