A FREE audiobook aiming to empower women and look after their physical and mental health right from conception until the weeks after the bundle of joy has arrived has been released.
A partnership of community and maternity hospital-based mental health services in the Mid West launched a new audio edition of a successful HSE publication, ‘My Perinatal Self Care Workbook’.
The workbook is the collaborative brainchild of personnel and service-users at Mid West ARIES, mental health services, and the specialist Perinatal mental health team at University Maternity Hospital Limerick (UMHL).
The free audiobook is the latest iteration of a publication that was released initially in traditional book form in October 2023.
It provides an accessible ‘any place, any time’ option for those who wish to make use of the resource while on the go or at home.
Providing crucial support for women throughout the perinatal period, the workbook is free and can be downloaded or streamed at tinyurl.com/perinatal-self-care-audiobook.
The idea for the workbook emerged from the feedback of women who attended a workshop on self-care at UMHL in April 2023 at Limerick’s Castletroy Park Hotel.
Mid West ARIES and the SPMHS team want to ensure that all women who need this workbook, not just women in the Mid West region, can get it when they need it, in whatever format suits best, especially women who have additional accessibility needs.
The content covers the basics of self-care and wellness during the perinatal period, how to support physical health, emotional wellbeing, and develop and maintain healthy social connections throughout.
There are worksheets and planning aids to help develop a personalised self-care toolkit with encouraging messages of hope from women who have been on their own perinatal mental health journey as well as contact details for a range of community-based support services throughout Limerick, Clare, and Tipperary.
