Melbourne mum insists toilet paper can save lives after battling postnatal depression and brutal family tragedy
By Maddison Leach|
When Melbourne mum Rochelle Rich battled through months of postnatal depression only to face new tragedy when her niece died by suicide, she never thought it would inspire a business.
Rich welcomed her son Raphi in 2018 and soon fell into a spiral of depression and anxiety, but at the time she had no idea what she was experiencing.
Like many first-time mums, the Melbourne local missed the warning signs of postnatal depression because she assumed what she was feeling was a normal part of adapting to motherhood.
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"I didn't actually know what was happening very clearly. Looking back, all I knew was I was achy and tired all the time, but no matter how much I was sleeping, I was irritable and having negative thoughts," she tells 9Honey.
"Now I've come to see that it was the postnatal anxiety and depression coming throughกญ and when you can identify it, you can find that there is help out there."
Rich struggled to put into words how she was feeling at the time. With no vocabulary to express her pain, she turned to online data and research for answers.
While many new mums seek out personal stories shared by other women on social media, Rich admits that can often "make matters much worse", as many don't provide the tools to get help.
Over time, she found resources and support through mental health organisations and after a long 18 months she finally felt herself getting better.
But Rich never could have prepared herself for the tragedy that struck next.
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"We lost my niece on May 17, 2020. It was just a blur, a complete blur. I don't even know what happened in the months that followed," she says.
Her beloved niece died by suicide during the height of Melbourne's first lockdown and Rich had to cope with the tragedy in isolation, while also struggling to explain the loss to her son.
Raphi was just two years old and had no way of understanding what was happening.?
Once again, Rich turned to the internet to find resources to help her young son but discovered there was almost nothing available for kids his age. So she decided to do it herself.
Working with a freelance designer, Rich developed an 'emotions chart' featuring cartoon characters displaying a range of emotions.
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Within two months of her niece's death, Rich was using the chart to show Raphi how she was feeling จC from sadness to exhaustion จC as she processed her grief.
"I was showing Raphi what we were feeling, what people around him were feeling, and also creating an element of hope and understanding that it's a fluctuation," she recalls.
"We started off with the facial expressions; this is what you're looking at, this is what I'm feeling, point to something that you are feeling. And it worked really well."
Soon, Raphi was using the chart to explain his own emotions to his mum and Rich realised she had an incredible and sorely-needed resource on her hands.
"I needed something like this."
The chart alone was great, but the business-minded mum knew pairing it with an everyday product would help get it into people's homes in a more accessible way.?
And there was one item Aussie families couldn't get enough of during the pandemic: toilet paper.
"Because there was that huge toilet paper rush of 2020, that chart that was so good for us now permanently lives on the packaging of toilet paper to get it out there into other people's homes," she says.
That's how her company emotions was born and now sells toilet paper with the emotions chart on the packaging to help other Aussies understand and explain their feelings.
At first, she was met with confusion and laughter when she explained the concept, but Rich is certain it will help save lives.
"I still get weird looks to this day, but most people could see the impact," she says.
"There's so much science and statistics around how understanding your emotions can set you on a path for recoveryกญ it's meant to be in the corner of the house within eyesight, but not alarmingly loud."
Emotions also proudly gives 50 per cent of all profits to mental health charities Beyond Blue, The Black Dog Institute, and Lifeline to support Aussies in crisis.
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The business has now branched out into other household items, including baby wipes which Rich says would have been a huge help when she battled postnatal depression.
"I needed something like this. As parents, we just churn through these baby wipes and if I had this constant reminder to keep an eye on my emotions on the change table or in a backpack, I might have had a much easier first 18 months," she admits.
Meanwhile her son Raphi, now four, has developed an emotional intelligence and vocabulary Rich never would have expected, all thanks to that first simple chart.
Not long does it make it easier for him to express himself, it makes it easier for her as a mum to understand how he's feeling จC "because one of the difficulties of parenting is they don't have a vocabulary yet."
Parents often have to guess what their kids feel, but a product like emotions provides a tool in the form of the chart so kids can voice their emotions for themselves.
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Having seen just how much good a simple roll of toilet paper can do, Rich is ready to kick the business into the next gear.
"It's the time to make change in society for ourselves, for the next generation, for our friends and family," she says.
"My own journey's been a really difficult one, but I'm a businesswoman at heart and I really do want this business to be hugely successful. Not because of the money, but because our goal is to save lives."
To help the company expand, emotions will undergo an On Market equity crowdfunding campaign where investors can share in the business' success and help change lives for the better. More information here.
If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, help is always available. Call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
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