Maternal Mental Health Month
Shefali is a mother of a 1-year-old baby girl and they both live together in The Sreepur Village. After Shefali got married, her husband went to live abroad so she had to live with her in-laws.
At the hands of whom she called family, Shefali was tormented to a series of regular beatings. Experiencing a lot of physical abuse, her mental health started to suffer and she decided to return to her father’s house.
It was while living with her father that she learned that her husband had come back and got married again. This circumstance further deteriorated her mental health and well being. During a visit to the shops one day, Shefali was brutally assaulted and raped.
It was a college professor who kindly offered to help her with the birth of her daughter and who also made contact with the Deputy Commissioner of Gazipur for Shefali's safety and shelter who, in turn, contacted us at The Sreepur Village.
After arriving in The Sreepur Village, Shefali attends regular psychosocial counselling sessions conducted by a professional Clinical Psychologist. However due to Covid-19 these sessions have to be carried out online.
Compared to when Shefali first arrived at The Sreepur Village, she is now doing really well and gets involved in various activities of every day life. Shefali is also taking part in some skill development training. When Shefali came to The Sreepur Village she was unable to take care of her daughter, but now she is very aware of her daughter and a bond has formed between the two of them.
The majority of mothers that come to live in The Sreepur Village have all been victims of abuse, abandonment, torture, poverty and neglect and all of which have had an impact on their mental health.
It is the charity's mission to empower these mothers with hope, to listen to them and give them back their voices which they have lost through all kinds of trauma.
With your donations, we are able to employ clinical psychologists and psychotherapists, and especially during Covid-19, these online sessions, which cost £10, have been pivotal in giving our mothers and their children hope for a brighter future.