McIver said at the time, in May 2020, her case was not viewed as severe enough to be admitted to maternal mental health services.
She begged to be seen at the hospital but because the sole clinician was away on leave, the hospital could only set up for a child psychologist to ring McIver once a day.
The experience left McIver feeling like there was nowhere for mothers to go to get help when struggling after pregnancy.
“It felt like I had to be at the bottom of the cliff before I could get help. I knew, the way that I was, that I could get suicidal or go down that route of wanting to hurt my children, but I wanted to get help before it got that bad.”
A spokesperson for Whanganui Hospital said it had recently increased its maternal mental health services to two clinicians and a part-time psychiatrist.
“Referrals including self-referrals are reviewed daily and if accepted are seen within three weeks from receipt of referral; if deemed more urgent they will be seen earlier or if needed by the Mental Health Assessment and Home Treatment Service team.
“Maternal, Infant, Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Addiction Service does only see those with moderate to severe issues but would refer those that don’t meet the criteria to primary care providers.
“Primary care providers are able to care for these women in the community.”
Psychologist and trauma specialist Dr Kristen Hamling said mental health support for mothers needed to be easily accessible.
“A lot of the psychologists, nurses and doctors are exhausted, there’s no one for some people.”
Hamling said many mothers wouldn’t know that what they were experiencing was abnormal.
“They’ll say things like ‘Why is this so hard; I didn’t realise this was going to be this hard’. But they don’t know that they have postnatal depression.
“Things will get really bad because they don’t notice the signs.”
She said good mental health of a mother was vital for their child’s future.
“Studies show that the first 1000 days of a baby’s life are crucial; trauma gets wired into us from conception, and in those violent or stressed environments the child can come out wired for survival and fight.”
Healthy Families mental health and addictions project lead Chy Potaka-Osborne said the solutions needed to come from the community.
“You end up getting a bottleneck when it comes to specialist services because we’re not doing the work at the prevention and early intervention stage.
“A hospital, in-patient acute unit isn’t a place for a māmā and her baby, the place is at home with the right supports in place, but that isn’t always possible.”
Fourteen per cent of New Zealand women will develop depression, anxiety or other mental health issues, either during pregnancy or the first year after having a baby.
Suicide is the leading indirect cause of perinatal maternal death in New Zealand.
Hamling said inter-generational trauma also contributed to mothers’ lack of trust in government services, especially for Māori māmā, which made seeking help even harder.
“My clients with postnatal depression are fearful of being honest about where they’re at with their mental health because they don’t want their kid taken off them.
“They might know a family member whose kids have been taken off them, or they were taken off their own parent as a child.”
Whanganui Community Living Trust, a mental health charity, provides a maternal mental health service for mothers experiencing perinatal anxiety and depression.
Community mental health nurse Misty Campbell said its services could range from running errands to looking after the baby so a mother could shower.
Support workers might help with grocery shopping, vacuuming the house or folding washing.
They could also offer techniques to help cope with stress and anxiety during parenthood, but Campbell said the most important part of the service was the conversations staff had with mothers.
“Sometimes they just need to vent and say the things that are bothering them, and we provide an ear for that.
“We talk to them about the things that are worrying them and what other support they might need; when we leave, there’s less of a burden.”
The trust’s general manager, Tie Scown, said its services were not funded for the number of people who needed support.
“On average, we see 97 people face-to-face per week, but we have to turn people away almost every day.”
Scown said because mothers seeking help were considered at high risk, the trust would see them or connect them to other agencies.
“The mum could potentially harm the baby if she’s got to the point where she’s being turned away, and there’s no help.”
For more information on postnatal depression and useful advice go to https://mentalhealth.org.nz/conditions/condition/postnatal-depression.
To access support visit https://wclt.co.nz/ and fill out a self-referral form, or contact Whanganui Hospital support on phone (06) 348 1901 or email icamhas@WDHB.org.nz
Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.
