How a retired couple and a flip phone filled a postpartum depression void

At first glance, the old Nokia flip phone sitting on the dining room table of a modest St. James home seems unremarkable.

Nearby, there are stacks of papers and reference material about postpartum depression.

Most strikingly, peeking out of the front of a thick notebook, is a newspaper memorial of a beautiful young woman and two little children — Lisa Gibson, her two-year-old daughter Anna and three-month-old son Nicholas.

Michele and John Brooks keep the family's pictures in that log book, where they keep track of the calls coming in to the the Postpartum Warm Line.

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The couple provide the warm voices behind the crisis support telephone line, which was launched in October 2013.

It was created three months after Gibson, in the grips of postpartum psychosis, drowned her two little ones in the bathtub of her Westwood home.

Gibson, 32, was later seen walking and looking distraught near the family home, which is close to the Assiniboine River. Days later, her body was found in the Red River, near the point where the two rivers meet.

The children's deaths were ruled as homicides, while Gibson's death was deemed a suicide.

The Postpartum Warm Line is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week. If you call it, you will reach either 66-year-old Michele or 69-year-old John. They take the phone everywhere.

'I felt very lost'

So why would a couple of psychiatric nurses who retired in 2012 spend their retirement tied to a phone, discussing the most serious of topics?

The Gibson family tragedy sent a wave of grief through the community. It hit John and Michele hard.

John had known Lisa Gibson as a work colleague at the Grace Hospital, where she was a pharmacist. 

"I got to know her to say hello, and one of the things about Lisa was her friendly smile," he said. "To actually hear about what happened to her and her children was shocking."

The Gibson tragedy also stirred memories of a difficult time in their own lives, when Michele suffered postpartum depression after giving birth to both of their children, who are now 41 and 37 years old.

"I felt very lost, hopeless, scared and very depressed," said Michele, who recovered after getting the proper medical help. 

'Take care of yourself, let others help you, and you will feel better.- Michele Brooks

Michele said even with her training, she didn't recognize what was wrong with her.  And even with John's training, he had a huge challenge in getting his wife help. He eventually took her to a hospital and refused to leave until a psychiatrist friend came to see her. 

The thought that Gibson wasn't successfully treated in time haunts the couple.

So when they heard the Mood Disorders Association of Manitoba was looking to start a phone line dedicated to families experiencing postpartum depression, they jumped into action.

They immediately phoned Tara Brousseau Snider, the association's executive director, to volunteer.

"We just told them we were very upset about Lisa and wanted to try to do something to help and to prevent this from happening again," recalls Michele.

The couple stressed that immediate help is often what's needed — a human on the line, someone who has been through what they've been through and can offer not only practical help, but also the hope that things will work out. 

"It's kind of a cold thing when you phone a number and end up either with an answering service or leave a message and hope somebody will get back to you," John said.

120 calls to date

The couple has had about 120 calls so far.  About one-third of them come from moms experiencing problems, another third are from health workers seeking guidance, and about one-third are from family members.

"They are genuinely concerned about their granddaughter not keeping up with the baby's care, or should they intervene more to help, or how do they call a doctor or where do they find services," said John.

Michele said the main advice they give to new moms is to "take care of yourself, let others help you, and you will feel better."

She said mothers often tell her that they don't want to bother family members by asking them to help. They feel they should be able to handle their baby by themselves.

"I tell them that it's OK to reach out."

In about three cases, John says multiple family members — unbeknownst to each other — called with concerns about the same mom.  He and Michele were able to connect the dots and the family members started to work as a team.

"It worked out well," he said.

Callers are invited to keep in contact with the couple if they want to. Some do call back and share their progress. Many share their thanks. 

The couple's hope is that they can raise the awareness of the Warm Line and help more families. They know they are just scratching the surface of the need.

Brousseau Snider agrees.

"There are about 10,000 births in Winnipeg every year. Between 15 and 20 percent of women will have postpartum depression, so we are looking at about 1,500 to 2,000 women a year." she said.

And a serious thought to consider, says Brousseau Snider, is that an estimated 100 women a year in Winnipeg will have psychosis or a psychotic breakdown, the illness which claimed Lisa Gibson and her children.

The Gibson family's tragedy is a constant part of the couple's daily lives. John admits he thought they'd be spending their retirment boating. However, he said they are driven to do this work because they have the life experience and the education to help.

"Given our own experience, given that Michele was very sick, given that our kids are grown now and doing really quite well in their vocations, we are able to see that we can offer a perspective to some folks,"  said John.

Michele said softly, "That's one of the main reasons we do it — for Lisa and her children and her memory."

Families can phone the Postpartum Warm Line at (204) 391-5983.