One little technical hiccup at the start of the day was not going to stop, or dampen,  these passionate folks from advocating for moms! 

On April 2nd, led by the Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance, over 150 of us, nationwide, met with legislators to push them to invest in resources for moms and birthing people: the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline and the Perinatal Psychiatry Access Program. 

The National Maternal Mental Health Hotline,  1-833-TLC-MAMA,  is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and offers free and confidential access to trained professionals that provide mental health support, resources, and referrals to pregnant and postpartum mothers and their loved ones.  Counselors are available in English and Spanish and, via professional interpretation, in over 60 languages including Arabic, Kreyol, and Mandarin. Additionally, they are available via text message. 

The Perinatal Psychiatry Access Program is for healthcare providers. It serves to help address the appalling lack of mental health professionals in the United States. The program provides four key services to help frontline healthcare workers that are serving new moms struggling with mental health: education, technical assistance, consultation, resources and referrals. Imagine that a mom brings their baby to their first pediatrician visit. Mom shares with the pediatrician that she is feeling depressed and anxious as a new mom. The newborn’s doctor is not trained for this but in states where this program exists, they can pick up the phone and call a perinatal psychiatry expert who can help them provide the appropriate care and resources to that mom. 

These programs are lifelines for moms struggling with mental health conditions. And the fact is, moms need more lifelines!. Maternal mental health disorders are the most common pregnancy and childbirth complications. New parents of all cultures, ages, races and income-levels deal with these conditions. However,  we know that health inequities abound in the US and women of color face even higher barriers to accessing treatment. 

On this National Day of Action for Maternal Mental Health, over 100 meetings were held with congressional offices. Besides visits with elected officials, an action call was sent to sign letters to legislators requesting more funding for these two maternal lifelines.  Our members got in on the action sending nearly 7500 letters to legislators! We wholeheartedly thank all of you  for your participation and if you haven’t already, we encourage you to sign on because we will continue to push for more resources for maternal mental health, until all moms and families have what they need to flourish!