During 2007 the group undertook a narrative therapy project and published a book relating women’s experiences following motherhood. Here is an account of the project and the launch by group member Silke:
The launch of our publication “Beyond I’m just a mum” (resulting from our Narrative Therapy Project) took place one ordinary Wednesday morning in our Downer Community Centre where we always meet. We had decided against a flash place in town and in favour of having it “at home” to give participants a real flavour of what we are about and what we tend to do on a Wednesday morning. A bonus was that we had access to our wonderful childcare arrangements next door.
The launch was a lovely ending for this heartfelt project we had been through. The room was filled with beautiful garden flowers, yummy treats, and wonderful people (I think the entire listening team plus most participants were there). The display of our hoops from the Backyard Project added extra colour and showed that we did more than “just” talked about ourselves this year. It felt very homey – quite similar to the actual gatherings of the project we had in this room. It was lovely to see everybody again.
Our dear Sue Hoffmann who had started off the whole project now brought it to a closure. She thanked everybody, outlined the process and described what it had meant for her. Jess followed with a passionate speech about her experience as a participant. [Was there another speech that I have forgotten???] Finally Kerry Tucker provided a moving speech emphasizing the importance of taking time out when having young kids and that people need to be supported in their decision to take this time. The point I remember the strongest is that she said that she would have never gone into politics if she hadn’t had kids and hadn’t spent time at home with them. She said this time actually helped and refined her career. It made her realise what really mattered to her and made her become active about things she was passionate about. She then launched the publication. A lot of happy mingling and chattering followed.
May I just add that I absolutely loved the whole “Beyond, I’m just a mum…” project. I loved to participate, I loved being involved in the editing and layout process, I loved getting to know women from the BWG much more through the process, and I certainly adore our publication, it is so ours and yet what we say in it resonates with so many beyond our circle.
There have been two major things that I have done for myself in 2007 (apart from being at home with two kids and a major house renovation…) – that is this Narrative project and the hoops for the Backyard Project with Julie Ryder. I got so much out of each one. I would like to thank everybody involved for making it all happen. I am so happy to be part of this group.
This article about the launch appeared in The Canberra Times on 6 December 2007:
