Saskatoon residents walked in Rotary Park for Flora’s Walk to raise funds and awareness for perinatal health care in Canada on Wednesday.
Perinatal refers to the time between pregnancy and one year post-birth.
“Both my partner and I struggled after having our baby in 2018 with perinatal mental illness,” said Michelle Klatt, founder of non-profit Mother May I.
Mother May I is a Saskatoon organization that helps bring awareness to mental health issues post-birth.
“A few months into it, I found I had a lot of anger which I didn’t relate to it being perinatal mental illness because all I knew of that was not bonding with your baby and just feeling sad all the time,” Klatt said. “But what I felt was anger and slowly it got worse and worse.”
She said she went through a trial-and-error period with medication.
“Looking back, I definitely wish I would have sought help sooner and joined support groups, which is what we are trying to make aware of people struggling now, that there are resources,” Klatt said.
Forty-four-year-old Flora Babakhani gave birth to her daughter Amber in 2021. She took her own life on Jan. 14, 2022, due to undiagnosed postpartum psychosis, an illness that causes paranoia, hyperactivity, mood swings, delusions, and strange beliefs.
The walk in her memory during Maternal Mental Health Week happens in 40 different cities around Canada.
Saskatoon’s team was led by local non-profits and businesses, Mother May I, Calm After the Stork Counselling Services, and Reclaim Maternity.
The team exceeded their fundraising goal of $5,000, sitting around $6,500 Wednesday morning.
Jennifer Gates-Debogorski said she experienced post-partum depression and anxiety after the birth of her second child, but didn’t have any symptoms after her first.
“It’s not what I expected, to be honest, there isn’t really a reason why and I think that is the thing with post, partum depression and anxiety, there isn’t always a why,” said Gates-Debogorski. “It just happens, and you feel helpless.”
She said community, friends and family were what helped her through.
“Don’t put expectations on yourself,” she added. “It’s never going to be what you expect it to be.”
Delaney Chaykowski said she and her partner were really feeling the effects of the mental illness through the pandemic, when there were less support available.
“Being so locked in with the pandemic happening, I really wanted to reach out and make connections with other moms and find out if what I was experiencing was normal or just to hear that other people found it hard, too.”
She said that by the time her daughter is grown and having children, she would like to see more supports in place for parents.
“I would like to see more formalized and subsidized supports,” said Chaykowski. “More community connections… finding child care has been extra hard for us, just being able to connect with other parents and find what else it out there.”
She also noted that more supports should be put in place for men who are experiencing perinatal mental health symptoms.
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