20% or more birthing people suffer from a mental health condition during their transition to parenthood. As a birth professional, you are on the front lines. How prepared do you feel to support a client with a mental health condition?

Did you know that mental health conditions are the most common complication of pregnancy?

Even though it's not your job to treat them, you are in a unique position to identify and support your clients in seeking the help they need. Mental health conditions don't just affect the individual. In pregnancy and the postpartum period, depression and anxiety can affect the baby as well as the entire family system. 

A parent suffering from a mental health condition can have lasting effect on an infant's entire life.

Mental Health conditions can get in the way of a person's ability to focus on other recommendations for their care and can worsen if not identified and treated.

How do you expect to care for your client without understanding how mental health conditions might present and what to do when they arise?

As a perinatal psychiatrist, I have seen too many instances when a mental health condition was left too long and the symptoms worsened to the point that other steps had to be taken (sometimes even hospitalization and separation of baby from the parent). I have dedicated my career to educating patients and birthing professionals as well as other physicians and therapists about the unique intersection of pregnancy and mental health conditions so these outcomes can be avoided. 

Now I am creating a program to educate and support birthing professionals about mental health conditions and treatments with the hope that we can reach many, many more new families and intervene sooner when these conditions arise.

So that YOU, on the front lines, feel comfortable and confident when a mental health condition is present, to step in and help support your client.