The Moms Mental Health Initiative was founded in 2016 by two local moms. Both women experienced postpartum depression and anxiety, but struggled to get help that was actually helpful — and timely.
There are many things that impede access to mental health care for new parents including lack of insurance, stigma and various other systemic disparities. One in five women struggle with maternal mental health conditions, but only a quarter of them will get treatment. The numbers only increase for mothers of color.
"There’s no cohesive care for perinatal mental health. You can go to different places, you can be screened in different places. You may go to your OBGYN, you may go to your primary care if you’re struggling, maybe you have a therapist or a psychiatrist and those people are not going to talk to each other," explains Casey White, the marketing and communications director & upcoming associate director of the Moms Mental Health Initiative (MMHI). The organization is working to bridge this gap through peer-support, resource brokering and advocacy.
In Wisconsin in particular, White says many are left vulnerable to mental health crises during a critical time. "We are one of two states in the country that has not extended Medicaid past 60 days [after giving birth]," she notes. "Many people don't even develop a perinatal mental health condition until after 60 days postpartum, and six to nine months is the highest risk time period for death related to mental health."
As systemic racism, sexism and historic underfunding for women's health research compound these financial barriers to health care access, MMHI helps connect perinatal people access the mental health resources they need.
Peer support groups, whether organized online or in-person is the foundational component of MMHI's work according to White. "We're not clinicians, there's no white coats here. We are people who understand what it is like to go through one of these conditions and every program includes a little bit of peer support," she explains. "People crave that connection and it is a data-backed way to help people feel better and to help them stick to a treatment plan as well."
The resource brokering component is al about connecting someone who's struggling with their personal mental health with a knowledgeable provider. "That is someone who either has expertise or training in this very unique time period and the emotional journey that comes with it... [and] we want to make sure our list is reflective of the people we are serving," notes White. "So if we don't have a provider that comes from a specific culture or understands a certain experience, we are constantly seeking out new people to make sure that anyone who asks us for help can receive it."
"Pregnancy only lasts nine months," she adds. "You only get one year where your child is considered an infant, and we truly believe that people deserve to feel better. They deserve to be the parent that they want to be."
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