To the women of the Hunter,
When I was a kid growing up in Newcastle, there existed a women’s health centre just off Darby Street, somewhat iconic for those who can remember it. The “pink building” as it was known, where women and girls in the Hunter went for specialist medical care. Many the saviour to women in need. I remember wondering why was there only one? Why was it so unusual to have a women’s centre and shouldn’t they be everywhere? Why wasn’t it the norm, considering our issues can be so specific? Where was the mental health equivalent? And being horrified when it was dismantled.
When I started studying Psychology, I had a dream driving me to recreate a space for women like this, and to create a “one stop shop” for mental health. Run by women, for women.
From my early career I expanded my knowledge and interest in working specifically with women, I valued the ongoing training and retraining required in the rapidly developing area of women’s health. I took a keen interest in all areas of their clinical needs, but I was particularly passionate about the life transitions such as motherhood, pregnancy, menopause, and ageing. The health specifics of reproductive and immune conditions, the societal issues of inequality adding pressure to career stress, the complexities of women and their roles in relationships and friendships, their dual roles as working mother, often time carers for elderly parents whilst working and raising their own families, and managing their complex physical changes. The ever present juggling women find themselves doing as they carry multiple roles and demands, whilst having their own complex physical and emotional worlds always inspired me. My practice has focused on these issues since I started. But I decided to pointedly pursue my dream, and in 2008 embark on specialisation through my Masters, my affiliate teaching and training work, and opened Therapeia Women’s Centre for Health and Wellbeing in 2008. I have had the privilege of working alongside staff and colleagues who came to Therapeia with the same passion, and developed their own keen interest in all areas of women’s health.
Following the challenging times of 2020, Therapeia also became a safe haven and hub of support for practitioners and mental health peers. We saw the need to open our doors in different ways to now service the female mental health profession. The majority off psychologist’s in the workforce are female.
My thesis was focused on the impact of the pregnant therapist in the therapy room, because as a health profession we experience the unique situation of working primarily during our childbearing years in a profession that is largely women. We need to support each other as well as our clients. It has also been the history that despite this female dominance, positions of supervision and leadership and governance in Psychiatry and Psychology has been male dominated. Therapeia aims to provide a future of training, peer support, and supervision for women therapists and practitioners. I particularly want to give back in these later stages of my career to honour the profession and female workers that gave me the support I required to create Therapeia.
This unique practice has therefore grown from my immense passion in all areas of women’s health. It seems a moment of reckoning in feminist politics. I’m honoured to stand with the women of the hunter as we prioritise our health, our families, and our place in the world. During 2020 women across the world have been called the “shock absorbers”, being the buffer for the distress and challenges their loved ones faced, whilst also attempting to attend to their own needs. It is as crucial as ever that women are able to access a service to support them through life that is dedicated to their unique situation. Our hope at Therapeia is that it becomes a life-changing force for you.
So, hopefully, if its time for you,
See you on the couch,
Bernadette