Seek help – Mothers with cerebral palsy children told

Mr Emmanuel Ampofo, a cognitive behavioural psychotherapist, has advised mothers with children who have cerebral palsy to seek help when necessary to avoid getting depressed.

He also advised such mothers to accept their children as gifts from God and learn to be content, and avoid comparing themselves to other mothers.

Mr Ampofo gave the advice at a meeting organised by the Special Mothers Project, an advocacy and awareness creation programme on cerebral palsy.

The meeting assembled  26 mothers of children with cerebral palsy to share experiences and to find the means to forward the advocacy campaign.

Mr Ampofo, a member of Mending Minds, an organisation that supports people in their moments of grief spoke on depression and how to deal with it. He also commended the Special Mothers Project for the work they were doing and called for a stronger collaboration.

Mrs Hannah Awadzi, the initiator of the Special Mothers Project, explained that the project was to provide a platform to link mothers to free and affordable services

“For instance, at our meeting today, mothers filled a needs-assessment form and we try to direct them to where they can receive help.”

The project, she said, also tried to coordinate the scattered cerebral palsy activities going on in Ghana to make it easier for families to get help.

Mrs Awadzi expressed her gratitude to Blue Skies Company, Dels Foundation, Mending Minds, Mmofra Place and Givers Never Lack Foundation for making the meeting successful.