The Great Equalizer TGE Media

On this episode of The Great Equalizer, we continue to unpack maternal mental health in South Africa, against the backdrop of the trial and sentencing of Lauren Dickason and, more specifically, the IVF journey.

Lauren Dickason is a mom of three and fellow South African who was convicted in the New Zealand courts for the murder of her three daughters, Liane (6) and Karla and Maya (2).

At the time of the tragedy, the South African mom had recently emigrated to New Zealand with her family. Her husband, Graham, an orthopaedic surgeon, received a job opportunity and so, like many emigrating South Africans, the family took the opportunity to seek out what they thought would be greener pastures. The tragedy occurred weeks after the Dickasons had settled into their new home, on the evening of the first day that the twins went to school.

Where we left off in the last episode is that Lauren pleaded guilty to infanticide, and not guilty to murder, but was found guilty for murder. And we unpacked the implications for this in the mothering community…

In this second episode we delve further into the issue of IVF, which is something that our in-studio guest, Raylene de Villiers, unpacks for us in detail.

Raylene is a mom of four and a former friend and confidante of Lauren Dickason.
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#maternalmentalhealth #mentalhealth #pps #postpartum #postpartumpsychosis #infanticide #filicide #motherhoodunplugged #motherhood #laurendickason

** This episode of The Great Equalizer was recorded in September 2023.
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DISCLAIMER & CONTENT WARNING:

The Great Equalizer endeavours to maintain a degree of respect for all viewpoints, and to uphold our policy of #nojudgies. The point of this difficult discussion is to shed some light on a dark topic, so that those of you who feel the need to talk about it and make sense of it, or even those who might be at risk of falling prey to similar circumstances, have a space to listen, grow and grieve. As always, everyone has a seat at our table, and we’re looking here to make sense of an often sad and scary world.

If at any point during these two episodes you are worried about your or someone else’s mental health, please contact:

– your GP or your local clinic
– South African Depression and Anxiety Group on 011 234 4837. Sadag has a WhatsApp counselling line that operates from 09:00 to 16:00: 076 882 2775.
– The Gauteng Mental Health Society: 011 984 4038
– The SA Federation For Mental Health: 011 781 1852

If you are in danger or someone else is endangering others, call the police immediately on 08600 10111 or 112 from a mobile phone.

If you need to take a step back and protect your energy, please do so. But stay tuned if you’ve wanted a space to think and talk about this conversation, and didn’t know where to go. This is why we’re here.

In this episode of The Great Equalizer, we focus on maternal mental health in the context of the Dickason tragedy.

Lauren Dickason has been in the news for the last two or so years, but more so in recent months when the mom of three and fellow South African was convicted in the New Zealand courts for the murder of her three daughters, Liane (6) and Karla and Maya (2).

At the time of the tragedy, the South African mom had recently emigrated to New Zealand with her family. Her husband, Graham, an orthopaedic surgeon, received a job opportunity and so, like many emigrating South Africans, the family took the opportunity to seek out what they thought would be greener pastures. The tragedy occurred weeks after the Dickasons had settled into their new home, on the evening of the first day that the twins went to school.

Due to the weight of the content, this episode takes place in two parts to open up conversation around maternal mental health, with a focus on IVF in Part II. The Great Equalizer's intention is not to provide a blow by blow of what happened, or place judgement either way.

In this episode we do our best to present the conversation in a way that stays true to the story and helps unpack the feelings of many of us who have stayed tuned to what has transpired – and what information has come to light – over the last two years.

What we think is most important here is to provide context for why this story resonated so deeply for many families in South Africa, and where we can go from here as a society.

Special thanks. to in-studio guest Raylene de Villiers, who once knew the murder accused intimately during a trying time during their lives.
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#maternalmentalhealth #mentalhealth #pps #postpartum #postpartumpsychosis #infanticide #filicide #motherhoodunplugged #motherhood #laurendickason

** This episode of The Great Equalizer was recorded in September 2023.
____

DISCLAIMER & CONTENT WARNING:

The Great Equalizer endeavours to maintain a degree of respect for all viewpoints, and to uphold our policy of #nojudgies. The point of this difficult discussion is to shed some light on a dark topic, so that those of you who feel the need to talk about it and make sense of it, or even those who might be at risk of falling prey to similar circumstances, have a space to listen, grow and grieve. As always, everyone has a seat at our table, and we’re looking here to make sense of an often sad and scary world.

If at any point during these two episodes you are worried about your or someone else’s mental health, please contact:

– your GP or your local clinic
– South African Depression and Anxiety Group on 011 234 4837. Sadag has a WhatsApp counselling line that operates from 09:00 to 16:00: 076 882 2775.
– The Gauteng Mental Health Society: 011 984 4038
– The SA Federation For Mental Health: 011 781 1852

If you are in danger or someone else is endangering others, call the police immediately on 08600 10111 or 112 from a mobile phone.

If you need to take a step back and protect your energy, please do so. But stay tuned if you’ve wanted a space to think and talk about this conversation, and didn’t know where to go. This is why we’re here.

We have another all-new BONUS episode out today featuring the phenomenal Minna Dubin.

Minna is a US-based journalist and author whose essays and articles on motherhood and identity have been featured across all the best known outlets, including the New York Times, The Times, The Philadelphia Enquirer, LitHub, and so much more.

Minna is a leading feminist voice on mom rage and she talks to The Great Equalizer's Sam Herbst about her debut book, MOM RAGE: The Everyday Crisis of Modern Motherhood.

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#momrage #maternalrage #maternalmentalhealth #minnadubin #currentlyreading #booktube #motherhood #motherhoodunplugged

In this BONUS episode of The Great Equalizer / TGE's Current Read, your host Samantha Herbst sits down with award-winning animator Daniel Snaddon. Daniel has worked on several highly acclaimed (and well loved) animations, including Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes, and a host of animations based on the beloved books of children's book author Julia Donaldson.

Daniel already has two BAFTAs under his belt, as well as two International Emmy Kids Awards, the most recent being an iEmmy for Best Kids Animation, in recognition of his work on The Smeds & The Smoos, which Daniel co-directed with fellow South African Samantha Cutler.

Daniel's work echoes through the TGE households and we were so pleased to have him in studio to chat more about his career and some of his upcoming work (including a new Julia Donaldson adaptation!).

Are you a fan of the Julia Donaldson adaptations? Let us know in the comments. They're all available to view (in South Africa) on Showmax.

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#kidslit #booktube #childrensliterature #juliadonaldson #showmax #triggerfish #iemmy #childrensanimation

It’s been a hot damn minute, guys and dolls! And not because we’ve been beaching. Nope, our fate has us suffering cold showers, walking in flats, considering the inescapable fate of death, drowning in a few existential crises, and pondering the fact that the patriarchy isn’t actually about horses.

In this episode of The Great Equalizer, we’re finally unpacking Barbie (the movie) and how it reflects the very messy contradictions of being a mother.

As author Eliane Glaser put it, motherhood is ‘feminism’s unfinished business’ and, to us, the Barbie movie captured this in a myriad ways, reflecting so much more than the cognitive dissonance of being a woman under patriarchy – an important central message of the movie, nonetheless.

To us, Barbie holds a mirror up to the reality of trying to mother in this world, the often fraught mother/daughter relationship, and the hamster wheel of existing as we try meet impossible societal parameters.

Team TGE unpack our personal experiences watching the movie, discuss our own relationships with Barbie growing up, and go into detail about the many ways that the movie delighted and infuriated us, and how it hit us in all the feels in very many ways.

Come on, Barbie. Let’s go party.

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#thebarbiemovie #barbie #motherhood #motherhoodunplugged

On this episode of The Great Equalizer, Sam’s lost faith in humanity, Charlene’s gone VIRAL (for all the wrong reasons) and we chat with author Pamela Power about being sober curious and the memoir she wrote about her year of not getting sh*tfaced (aptly titled My Year of Not Getting Sh*tfaced).

For Pamela, Mother’s Day 2021 was one for the books (literally), and not in the best way. The brownout she experienced that fateful day, which was in no way related to diarrhoea, prompted Pam to reconsider her drinking habits and relationship with alcohol. A fun knock-on effect of that was that “giving up the grog” gave Pammy the headspace to think about some of her other relationships – like family, work and self – bringing to light some hard truths that she’d inadvertently been shushing for years.

This episode considers South Africa’s relationship with alcohol as a whole, touching on addiction, moderation, and the culture of ‘Mommy Wine Time’. Together with Pam, Team TGE gets vulnerable about our own drinking habits, and we consider why moms like us are so desperate for 17h00 to roll round each day.

This you? It’s all of us, darling.

Got thoughts? We’d love to hear from you.

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#bingedrinking #bingedrinker #alcoholfree #sobercurious #sobriety