New mothers may experience many different emotions in the first months and year with their baby.
Enjoy Your Baby, a new program developed by the Canadian Mental Health Association, will help mothers who may be experiencing mild to moderate feelings of low mood during this time, said Enjoy Your Baby co-facilitator Jocelyn Demontmorency.
The free course targets mothers whose babies are between one month and 14 months old.
Each of the five sessions will cover different topics such as unhelpful thinking, pampering and sleep over five weeks, said Demontmorency, who works for the Canadian Mental Health Association as a community coach.
The program will consist of 12 to 15 women learning skills to cope and thrive as new mothers.
“It’s not for anyone that’s severely depressed,” said Demontmorency. “When you’re a new mom it can be pretty overwhelming.”
Mothers do not have to be referred by their doctors to register for the program.
“Caring for a new baby is a pretty challenging time and requires lots of energy,” said Demontmorency. “It’s going to be really interactive.
“We’ve got lots of discussion, activities for them and some really great materials as well. It’s a wonderful way of bringing some new moms together and likeminded women that are facing some difficulties and sharing ideas and coming together to talk about how they would like to make some positive changes.”
Enjoy Your Baby is a free five-week program taking place at Esquimalt Recreation Centre from Nov. 13 to Dec. 11.
For more information and to register, please contact Diana at Esquimalt Neighbourhood House Family Services at 250-385-2635 ext. 207 or email enjoyyourbabyvictoria@gmail.com.