Tag: Family

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The Reality of Domestic Violence

For many individuals, immigrating to Canada is a liberating and incredible experience, but it often comes with a lot of culture shocks and a lack of transitional resources. This creates an added sense of displacement and difficulties, especially for women. It can be a lot to deal with when uprooting to a whole new place and feeling the added pressure of maintaining their cultural heritage for their immigrant families. That burden is felt heavily upon women of Asian or Indian descent, which Malathy Praveen writes about in Elpizo Connect Magazine.

Praveen’s piece is educational and very insightful to the reality many Indo-Canadian women face as a part of the immigrant population, especially when it comes to domestic violence issues.

The experience of domestic violence for Indo-Canadian immigrant women is kept very secretive, as families often do not support women coming forward, seeking help and publicly sharing their issues with someone else, even if it is a professional. The patriarchal and cultural beliefs among Asian Indians are so strong that women often do not recognize domestic violence, accepting male dominance and power as their only form of knowledge.

Research reveals that domestic violence is alarmingly high among Indo-Canadian immigrants. Research also indicates that these immigrant women are at a much higher risk for intimate partner violence. Things like social stigma, gender roles, isolation after migration, lack of social support, and unawareness about available resources causes women to not be able to seek proper help.

It is important to know that Elpizo Counselling Services is a great resource for victims of abuse and trauma. The experience of domestic violence in Indo-Canadian women immigrants is more common than you think. We want to help be a better known resource for all immigrants who experience these difficulties of abuse, which is why we know the importance of including Malathy Praveen’s piece in our first issue.

You can learn more about domestic violence issues in Elpizo Connect Magazine.

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New Parenthood

For our second story from Elpizo Connect Magazine we introduce to you, New Parenthood.

Do you know that ole saying, “It takes a village to raise a child” well it’s not just an idiom. For new parents, parenthood is a whole new life and they need all the help that they can get. As a new parent, there are several changes you may notice such as you becoming more emotional than usual, getting mommy memory, physical and mental alterations, and your social relationship being tested.

More Emotions

Once you welcome your newborn baby in the world, it’s almost as if nothing else matters. Your brain begins to work overtime on your emotions as you notice your over-zealousness of the safety and concern of your new child. Your body releases hormones like hypothalamus which bonds you with your newborn and dopamine which is that pleasurable feeling of you enjoying parenthood.

Mommy Memory

What’s that? You misplace the breast pump for the 100th time, well sounds like you’ve got mommy brain. Some may say this as an excuse for being forgetful but this condition is covered by science. Caring for a newborn baby that does not know if they want to sleep, poo, or eat combined with sleep deprivation will no doubt lead to long-term effects on the brain.

Physical and Mental Changes

Recovering after giving birth is quite a quest. You mean to tell me after 9 months of carrying this baby, I still cannot have a glass of wine just yet?! After giving birth you do not get your life back immediately. You may have weighed 20 pounds less before the baby or remarkably got rid of all the weight, every woman is different and you should not force yourself to bounce back. An entire human just vacated your body and your first thought is to run to the gym? Do not let social media or others cloud your judgment and lower your self-esteem on what a new mom should look like, enjoy your new baby. You should take your time and lose the weight, whichever is best for you.

Social Relationships

Everyone loves a new baby. They smell like baby powder and milk and they have the chubbiest feet ever! You will notice friends and family coming over with gifts and offering help in any way that they can. However, not everyone’s experience is the same. You may notice friends that all of a sudden have no time for you and your baby but were around 24/7 before. Not to mention, co-parents that made high promises of always being there for you and your child suddenly unable to fulfill those promises. It is very important to have a good support system when you welcome a new baby into the world. Newborns are not a walk in the park and need all the care they can get, that’s why it’s important to have a village.

You can read more about parenting and mental health in our first issue of Elpizo Connect Magazine.

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Elpizo Community Connect: Navigating The Holiday Season

The Holiday Season has arrived and it is going to be unlike any other. With COVID-19 still being a hot topic, many are opting to change from their traditional routine to a new one. 

Last week on Elpizo’s Community Connect, the team came together and discussed how to navigate this holiday season. If you don’t know what to do this holiday season you should definitely take a look! 

This is our last Community Connect for the year so if you’re interested in the other topics that we cover we recommend going over to our Youtube channel to watch our other Elpizo Community Connect sessions. 

Watch the workshop below and leave us a comment on how your navigating this holiday season!