The organisation reports that in 2024-25, more mothers are calling its helplines expressing thoughts of self-harm or suicide \u2013 something that also occurred to Ellen Kimball \u2013 and it wants parents to know they can recover, and others to know what helps.<\/p>\n
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Sixteen per cent of the 8233 helpline callers in the last year experienced suicidal thoughts, an increase on 2023-24, said PANDA chief executive and clinical psychologist Julie Borninkhof.<\/p>\n
One in three new or expecting parents completing PANDA\u2019s online mental health checklist<\/a> reported \u201curges to self-harm or thoughts of running away\u201d.<\/p>\n Suicide is one of the leading causes of death of mothers, \u201cespecially in the perinatal period, and we are seeing an increase in the number of people experiencing self harm, or thoughts of self-harm, this year\u201d.<\/p>\n Those at risk may isolate themselves and avoid discussing these feelings due to the misplaced sense of failure, she said.<\/p>\n Screening designed to detect anxiety and depression may not pick up self-harm, so those close to new parents should be aware of signs that support is needed, such as losing confidence in their parenting, cutting themselves off from activities with community or friends, or seeming \u201cmore secretive\u201d.<\/p>\n Checking in \u2026 and asking people how they are really doing is an important question to ask.<\/p>\n Nieves Murray, chief executive of Suicide Prevention Australia<\/p>\n Afterwards, people often say things like they wished that their psychological pain had been visible like a physical injury because physical harm was easier to acknowledge and discuss, Borninkhof said.<\/p>\n The Australian Bureau of statistics reported last week that the largest demographic increase in suicide in 2024 was among young women, and Nieves Murray, chief executive of Suicide Prevention Australia, said the transition to parenthood \u2013 like any big life change \u2013 can bring vulnerability.<\/p>\n A sense of things being out of control, physical and emotional changes, lack of sleep and feelings of isolation can increase suicidal risk, but it doesn\u2019t take high-level training to give vital help, she said.<\/p>\n But you don\u2019t need to be a health professional to be able to make a difference in someone\u2019s life, Murray said, advising people to lean in. \u201cAsking the question about whether someone is thinking about suicide isn\u2019t going to put the idea in their head,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are very simple<\/a> training programs to give you the skills to talk about suicide. <\/a>Checking in is really important, and asking people how they are really doing is an important question to ask.\u201d<\/p>\n Listening to and acknowledging the person\u2019s feelings of darkness was extremely helpful, as well as being comfortable helping them \u201cunpack the reasons they are thinking about death\u201d and then \u201cmoving them towards identifying reasons for living\u201d.<\/p>\n Ellen Kimball found this support in her second and subsequent conversations with PANDA workers. \u201cThey must have recognised something in me that I wasn\u2019t recognising in terms of the distress I was in,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n With the help of her GP, Kimball found a place in a mother-baby unit and spent five weeks resting, sleeping and receiving support for anxiety and focusing on healing.<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n \u201cI was able to start that process of being comfortable in my own skin about the kind of mother I wanted to be \u2013 more confident as a mother,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Now mother to a thriving eight-year-old, she wants people to know that two, three or four months into motherhood, some women may need support even if they are unaware of this themselves.<\/p>\n Those around them should \u201cbe aware that if people are feeling hopeless, it\u2019s that seemingly insignificant help that can make a difference,\u201d Kimball says.<\/p>\n For mothers who may be struggling, \u201cit\u2019s about communicating clearly and openly with those around you \u2026 and knowing it won\u2019t be like this forever \u2013 learn to tune out some of the noise and well-meaning advice; know that there\u2019s no one way to be a mum.\u201d<\/p>\n If you or anyone you know needs support call Lifeline<\/a> 131 114, Beyond Blue<\/a> 1300 224 636, or PANDA<\/a> between 9am and 7.30pm on 1300 726306. Perinatal Mental Health Week 2025 is November 23-29<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The organisation reports that in 2024-25, more mothers are calling its helplines expressing thoughts of self-harm or suicide…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[163,85,46,522,523],"class_list":{"0":"post-146204","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}