Ensuring local families are happy ones

May 15 was the International Day of Families and Community Action Network have chosen DorPIP to be their Community Heroes in the Spotlight for this month, due to the support they offer local families.

DorPIP (Dorset Parent Infant Partnership) is a unique parent infant relationship service.

Its mission is to give babies the best start by nurturing them through the first 1001 days of life. This is from conception to the age of two.

DorPIP empower parents/primary carers to form a secure attachment with their baby. This is through psychotherapeutic interventions, attachment-led infant massage and peer support groups. By promoting the importance of early attachment and investment in very early relationships they aim to ensure infants and their parents/primary carers live healthy and happy lives together.

DorPIP offer expectant parents, or families with children under two, a warm, nurturing, confidential space for them to talk about the emotional transition to parenthood.

Parents/primary carers and the child’s mental health and wellbeing is of top priority.

A highly qualified, experienced team support parents/primary carers to develop a safe, secure relationship with their infant.

Starwatch night sky events with Kate Earl of the Wessex Astronomical Society

It is with great sadness that we report the death of regular contributor to Starwatch night sky events, Bob Mizon MBE. Bob was an avid campaigner for the Commission for Dark Skies, an organisation that promotes the importance of keeping our skies dark for nature and human health. Kate Earl, a colleague of Bob’s, and current chairman of the Wessex Astronomical Society has agreed to follow in Bob’s footsteps and keep us updated on what we can see in the night sky.

Spica, the brightest star in the constellation of Virgo, can be spotted low in the southwest around 11pm.

It is found using the old astronomy adage ‘Arc to Arcturus, then speed onto Spica’, by tracing an arc round the handle of the Plough, through bright star Arcturus, with Spica, the next star in line.

Spica is actually two stars, which orbit so close to each other that their strong

Parents/Primary Carers may be asking:

Why is being a new parent more difficult than I thought?

Have I got post-natal depression (PND)?

Why haven’t I bonded with my baby?

What are the baby blues?

Why do I feel so sad and stressed?

When does becoming a parent get easier? DorPIP are here to help. One parent said, ‘Something magical happens in this safe space.

“I grew in confidence as a parent and my relationship with my baby flourished.’

CEO and founder of DorPIP, Viv says: “One of the reasons I founded DorPIP was because of my own experience of becoming a parent, with the unconscious ‘ghosts in the nursery’ lurking in my psyche, impacting on my ability to be fully present and emotionally attuned to my children’s needs.

This robbed me of the joy and pleasure of parenting and my children of the sensitive care they needed.

Through DorPIP I wanted to provide a safe, confidential space where parents could explore their own ghosts in the nursery with empathy and caring of a skilled professional, so that families can flourish together, and children can get the best start in life.’

DorPIP’s support is crucial as they report that:

One in five women suffer from mental health issues in pregnancy or first year Of new mothers with mental health issues 50 per cent go undiagnosed and unsupported

Suicide is the leading cause of pregnancyrelated death of women in the year after pregnancy

Viv continues: “Parents and their infants need DorPIP’s support, and being CAN’s Community Heroes in the Spotlight for the month of May means we’re more able to reach those families who may have otherwise not heard of us.”

To find out more, contact hannah.rees@ can100.org.