Day Six

Day Six is a story of one of the roughest introductions to motherhood you can imagine. Jen Wight breaks the taboo around mental ill health to honestly recount her experience of developing post partum psychosis and then severe post natal depression. She tells the tales of being convinced that she was Cameron Diaz; that she and Obama were going to use FaceBook to save the world; and that she was going to cure cerebral palsy with dental floss. One scary night she experiences regressing back through her 'past lives' to become a sixties housewife, an aboriginal woman living when Cook first sailed through The Heads into Sydney Harbour, and finally the first chimpanzee to communicate with words. And it all started on Day Six of her son's life. She uses her experiences to explore her relationship with her sister who has schizophrenia and to illustrate that while mental illness can be devastating, there is hope that things can get better. About the author Jen Wight is an author, writer, charity fundraiser and photographer. She currently works for the Cerebral Palsy Alliance and has raised millions of dollars for social justice causes since starting her fundraising career in 2002. Jen was the city editor for the 2009 'Not for Tourists' London guide (NFT) and she wrote a regular column for N16 Magazine. She has contributed reviews for London, Hong Kong and Sydney for travel website www.wcities.com; written features for Time Out Sydney, Third Sector and Wed; reviews for www.viewlondon.com, Big Screen Magazine and Cornish World; travel pieces for www.expeditioner.com; and profiles for Friction Climbing Magazine. Jen hales from Hackney in east London and lives in Fairlight, Sydney with her son, husband and their imaginary dog, Fart.