Graphic scenes on television in recent times, showing homes crammed floor-to-ceiling with an astonishing amount of stuff is known now as a mental illness. Bronwyn Coulter explains how problems accumulated when she was growing up in a house of hoarders. I grew up in a house...
Heather Renton hopes that medical cannabis will prove to be an effective therapeutic treatment, where other medication has failed for her daughter, Rebecca. Why my 12-year-old child is involved in a medical cannabis trial Most mornings I feel like I have run a marathon before I...
Belinda Horton, Past CEO of the Post and Ante Natal Depression Association (PANDA), says honest conversations with expectant mothers and new parents can help them through times of distressing emotional upheaval. Babies are amazing, and becoming a parent is life-changing. So why do we hear over...
COPE has a new online resource dedicated to providing emotional and mental health for women. Here we look at why it's such an important free tool for parents. Finding information on every pregnancy symptom and test online, always misses one of the most important pieces of...
Professor Gordon Tait argues that teachers are now expected to shoulder the burdens that others will not. The concern is that teachers are now to be regarded as de facto therapists and since somebody has to be responsible for children’s behaviour, it is teachers who...
“We’re not talking about a male toddler who pops on a frock occasionally or a little girl who acts like a tomboy...
Women who have suffered a pregnancy loss need to be kind to themselves, even when others aren’t, writes Michelle Hayward. I am a mother and a survivor. I am currently ‘recovering and healing’ from a pregnancy loss – a miscarriage at 10 weeks – and I...
The years prior to her child being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were lonely and confusing for Michelle Reid. I have a daughter who is turning 13 next month and we are planning a big birthday bash. She is very excited and has a big...
It takes Cathy Watson a few years before she can look upon the absence of an invitation in her son’s hand with relief rather than despair. Mothers milled around the kindergarten door, waiting to collect their children. The party invitations sat brightly in the pigeonholes like...
Zofia Pawlaczek explains the nature of child abuse (including ugly parent syndrome), particularly in relation to sport, and highlights the importance of sports clubs having child-protection strategies in place at all levels. abuse (including ugly-parent syndrome) is not the prerogative of the parent when it’s directed...
