Aurore

Age at interview: 43

Aurore is a 43-year-old woman and mother of one child who was aged 9 months at the time of interview. She is a professional and lives with her wife and child in a suburban area outside a large city. Prior to her pregnancy Aurore had periodically seen a counselor for anxiety and depression, and she anticipated that this might also be an issue postpartum.

While Aurore was connected to a variety of services through her midwife and public health nurse, she found that the focus tended to be on physical rather than emotional well-being. Although she attended a number of mother and baby groups, she felt there was little opportunity to connect meaningfully with other mothers and she began to feel isolated. This was made worse by the fact that Aurore did not have family or friends living nearby. Isolation combined with the challenges of being a new parent at times contributed to spiraling anxiety.

Aurore has continued to receive counseling support and stressed the importance of self-care activities such as yoga, meditation, eating well and resting as much as possible. She also highlighted the need for service providers to consider the emotional rather than simply the physical well-being of new mothers.

 

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