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…I can take some very handy ‘keeping in touch’ days. So if you’d like my help with anything, please do get in touch.
If I can’t help, I’ll probably be able to recommend someone who can.
CharityStory will be up and running again from June 2014. And in the meantime, you can find more baby-related banter in my last post.
Bye for now!
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Jobs completed. Invoices submitted. ‘Bye for now folks! I’m off on maternity leave’ tweeted and blogged.
Well, that was the plan. It didn’t quite happen that way.
Baby Tess, it transpires, was very keen to make her debut. She took us by surprise by arriving two weeks early.
Well – great to meet you Tess, but I haven’t started my maternity leave yet! My ‘Bye for now folks’ blog post is yet to be written. And are you aware that you’ve sabotaged all my plans to ‘nest’ and sit around eating vast amounts of cake with my new NCT friends?
But I can’t blame Tess (an 8lb bundle with an impressive head of hair and an endearing repertoire of snuffles that remind us of our first baby, Rosie the dog). It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have listened to everyone who told me sagely that the first one is always late.
Five weeks on, I’m emerging from the baby fog and finally getting round to writing that blog post (and it feels great to be doing something productive that doesn’t involve my boobs).
I’m officially on maternity leave until June 2014, but I can legally take on 10 days’ work between now and then and still get my maternity allowance. So from January onwards, do drop me a line if you’re looking for some help.
For now, I’d like to close with something from one of the last jobs I took on before Tess joined us.
The work was with Bluebell, a small Bristol charity that supports families affected by post-natal depression. This was great timing for me. My first few weeks with Tess were pretty tear-soaked but because I’m well versed on the difference between post-natal depression and the basic baby blues, I knew that what I was going through was the latter.
I think these words from Hannah, a mum supported by Bluebell, are a hugely powerful endorsement for the charity. Listen on my Audioboo page or read Hannah’s story below.
“I feel 100% different to when I started with Bluebell and I still get a bit choked up when I say that.
After having Noah, I lost who I was. I lost confidence in myself. I didn’t have any self esteem. I didn’t feel anything like myself – I felt like a different person with the same name.
But Bluebell taught me that how I was feeling was normal and that it happens to thousands of women across Britain, the world, everywhere. It’s not something to feel guilty about and there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
And things have changed for the better in every single way. I’ve got a life again. My relationship with Noah has improved massively. I enjoy being a mum now. I feel really proud that with Bluebell’s support, I’ve got to where I wanted to be.”
In an earlier blog I wrote about the importance of including the ‘then and now’ (or ‘before and after’) in beneficiary stories, as these really help to highlight a charity’s impact.
I think Hannah beautifully brings to life her ‘then and now’. And I hope her story will give hope and comfort to other mums living with post-natal depression – as well as inspiring new supporters and funders for Bluebell.
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The ‘amazing interviewee’ that I mentioned briefly at the start of my last blog is now live on Penny Brohn Cancer Care’s homepage!
I met Helen at Penny Brohn Cancer Care’s beautiful centre in Pill, near Bristol, in July 2013. She was a dream to interview: eloquent and honest.
Helen describes being diagnosed with ovarian cancer – “the silent killer” – and her journey from disbelief to fury to acceptance. She heaps praise on Penny Brohn Cancer Care, which played a crucial role in her recovery. And she urges us to make a donation to the charity with this devastatingly accurate rationale: “Everybody’s life is going to be touched by cancer… it’s not going away. So if you like, it’s an investment in your future.”
I produced two edits of Helen’s interview for the charity. There’s a two minute clip for the average listener (though I’m sure some would argue that two minutes is beyond many people’s attention span…we shall see). And there’s an eight minute feature for listeners with more time to invest – or, perhaps more accurately, a deeper connection with the charity, with ovarian cancer or with Helen herself.
You can listen to Helen’s story here.
If you like what I’ve done with Helen’s story and think something similar could work for your organisation, I’d love to hear from you. Do get in touch.
