Perinatal mental health and society
The Cailleach Diaries were originally conceived as a niche platform. I created the Cailleach Diaries as a place where I might share from the creative writing I’ve had sitting in my folders all these years. I felt they were unlikely to be of much interest to exhausted and time-poor parents who are trying to get through the days and nights with a baby and who just need some practical support!
Instead, with my Diaries I hoped to show the bones around which my professional work is wrapped. If Neuroprotective Developmental Care or the Possums programs is the body of my life work, the outward manifestation, then my creative fiction and non-fiction writings are the bones underneath which give my professional work its shape. I don’t believe that our professional lenses and contributions are disconnected from the private stories of our bodies and souls. In the Cailleach Diaries I wanted to show how certain great powers – family histories and social movements and psychological proclivities, which are often outside our control – shape our lives and demand things of us, including for me the painstaking creation of the Possums programs over so many years.
I didn’t set up the Cailleach Diaries to reach broad audiences, that’s for sure. But since this is the only place I have from which to offer my reflections right now, I’m grateful some of you have read this far. Re-building my lifework and new platforms will take time but I’m underway, and I’ll keep you informed. I’ve lived long enough to know how to trust in the wisdom of beginnings which rise up out of our endings, no matter how unexpected.
25 February 2023