About the author
Diana trained as a nurse at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.
After completing training to be a health visitor in East London and practicing in Bethnal Green, she married and moved to Wales, continuing in health visiting practice in Pembrokeshire for the next thirty years.
Diana has had a special interest in maternal and infant mental health and completed a BSc. and MSc. focussing on the mental health pathway and, on retiring, she took an opportunity to do a research PhD. with Swansea University to research how mothers who have experienced mental health difficulties cope. She has published several papers on maternal/infant mental health, and as a qualified Therapeutic Yoga teacher was involved as co-writer and editor of a therapeutic Yoga practice reference book.
About A Mum's Life
This book explores the importance of motherhood and the difficulties that many mothers face when they may experience of mental illness, lack of support and just trying to raise children in a society which does not always value or support the needs of families and children. What amazed me most was that most mothers, most of the time do cope, they get their children up for school, cook, wash and care for them, cope with profound sleep deprivation, hold down demanding jobs, care for elderly family members and the list is endless. The toll it takes on women themselves is often disregarded, undervalued and in many ways feels ignored by our wider society.
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However, I became interested in the how! How do they cope, how do they manage, what strategies do they use to cope, what do they do to cope? The lived wisdom of mother’s who have experience of mental ill-health became the subject of a research project with Swansea University. Twelve mothers shared their knowledge and experience with the intent to help and support other mothers. This book ‘A Mum’s Life’ is the story that we can now share.
Through deeply personal accounts, the mothers’ reveal how they come to recognise what truly matters and how their children become a source of strength and inspiration. The relationship between mother and child is a co-creation, both mother and child participating in a mutually supportive relationship. ‘A Mum’s Life’ hopes to offer practical wisdom and hope and let mothers know they are valued, recognised and not alone.
