Walking free of shame and stigma in pregnancy and beyond

Hope Virgo asserts that parents suffering from mental ill-health really need the Church to step up and provide support 

I sat down to write this article with a plan in my head. I wanted to talk to you about mental illness, to discuss the stigma that so many face. The images that come to mind when we think about mental illness. The fact that even though more people are speaking up, there is still a huge amount of stigma. But then I got stuck, thinking how surface level this all was sounding. How it wasn’t touching on the reality. I thought about my own experience outside of the eating disorder. Yes I had faced stigma within that, with people not getting it, and saying the most ridiculous things like: “You aren’t thin enough to have an eating disorder” or: “Surely people with eating disorders don’t eat anything.” But while this stigma needs to be challenged, the more sinister stigma that so many of us face is the stigma that comes alongside the shame that stops us reaching out. This is something I have faced over the last two years going through a pregnancy and having a baby.