Our Top 5 Most Popular Blog Posts in 2021
We’ve gathered the most viewed blogs published this year. See if you’ve read them all as you skim through the countdown of our top 5.
Our Top 5 Most Popular Web Pages in 2021
We’ve gathered our most viewed web pages this year. See if there’s something you’re interested in learning more about as you skim through the countdown of our top 5.
PAGE #5: Awareness Materials
Read MorePreventing Maternal Suicide Through Screening: A Sister’s Story
Suicide prevention is always important, but maternal suicide prevention is especially important to me. Twelve years ago, my sister died by suicide just three weeks after the birth of her first and only child. Like many new mothers, my sister was so excited for her first child.
Read MoreJuly is BIPOC Mental Health Month
Formally recognized by the U.S. House of Representatives in June 2008 (and currently designated as), Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month was created to bring awareness to the unique struggles that underrepresented groups face regarding mental illness in the US. As an American author, journalist, teacher, and mental health advocate, Bebe Moore Campbell worked tirelessly to shed light on the mental health needs of the Black community and other underrepresented communities.
Read MoreBlack Mothers Get Less Treatment For Postpartum Depression Than Other Moms
Portia Smith’s most vivid memories of her daughter Nelly’s first year are of tears. Not the baby’s. Her own.
“I would just hold her and cry all day,” Smith recalled.
At 18, Smith was caring for two children, 4-year-old Kelaiah and newborn Nelly, with little help from her abusive partner. The circumstances were difficult, but she knew the tears were more than that.
Read MoreAdverse Babyhood Experiences (ABEs): 10 New Categories of Adversity Before a Child's 3rd Birthday
Introduction
Adverse babyhood experiences (ABEs) are a new construct derived from large bodies of research that identify a different group of risk factors from adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). ABEs influence infant and maternal morbidity and mortality as well as risk for chronic illnesses and other chronic conditions in the child as well as symptoms in fathers and other partners.
Read MoreMay is Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month.
Here are 9 ideas for how YOU can build momentum to improve #MaternalMentalHealth:
Join us May 20 for a Maternal Mental Health Day of Action to call/email your members of Congress to support the #MomsMatterAct
Are you a mom or family member with lived experience with maternal mental health (MMH) disorders? If so, share your story in TheBlueDotProject story bank.
February is Black History Month: Meet Our Partners
This February, Black History Month, we want to acknowledge the leadership and critically important work of our Black-led non-profit partner organizations. We encourage you to learn more about their work and give your time or treasure, if you can:
Read MoreSuicidal, Twice – Without Warning (Psychosis – an Afterthought)
We are grateful to be sharing Kristina Dulaney’s story during this year’s suicide awareness week. Kristina was one of the reasons 2020 Mom and our partners knew we had to launch an annual national maternal suicide awareness week campaign.
Read MoreWhy “BIPOC” Replaced “Minority” this July
July was first declared as National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month in 2008, but this year the mental health advocacy community began adopting a new empowering term “Black, Indigenous and People of Color.”
Mental Health America explains the change as follows:
“The continued use of “minority or marginalized” sets up BIPOC communities in terms of their quantity instead of their quality and removes their personhood…The word “minority” also emphasizes the power differential between “majority” and “minority” groups and can make BIPOC feel as though “minority” is synonymous with inferiority.
Read MoreNew 2019 Report Released on Maternal Mental Health
Tonight, we are sharing a gift with all of you; a new report titled Maternal Mental Health The State of the State in California and Beyond, made possible through a grant from the California Health Care who is helping to pave the way for change in maternal mental health.
A Summary of State and National Maternal Mental Health Efforts
The report looks at all of the work implemented in both California and nationally to address maternal mental health since April 2017, when California’s state strategic plan was issued by the state’s Task Force on the Status of Maternal Mental Health.
Read MoreStudy Uncovers the Heavy Financial Toll of Untreated Maternal Mental Health Conditions
Common and Costly Expenditures Associated with the Birth of Children in 2017 Amount to More than $14 Billion
If you ask people what they think the most common medical complication is during and after childbirth, you probably won’t hear mental health issues. Yet maternal mental health (MMH) disorders — including prenatal and postpartum depression and anxiety — top the list, affecting at least one in seven women. In addition to the substantial human toll of these conditions, they come with a hefty price tag, especially because women who have them often go untreated.
The Latest Data on Maternal Mortality (Including Suicide) in the US & CA
CDC’s Maternal Mortality Review Data Brief
The Federal agency, The Center for Disease Control (CDC) shared a new brief on Maternal Mortality Review (MMR) with updated 2008-2017 data on pregnancy-related deaths from 14 Maternal Mortality Review Committees (MMRCs). Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah voluntarily shared their data through the Maternal Mortality Review Information Application (MMRIA). MMRIA supports and standardizes record abstraction, documentation of committee decisions, and routine analyses.
Read MoreWhat is HEDIS and Why Should I Care?
Have you ever wished that someone would monitor how often screening for maternal depression is happening and to report that rate?
It’s been a dream of mine to have such a measurement in place so we can gauge how quickly change is occurring, determine states where rates are highest/lowest, and push for more aggressive action until screening rates are in the acceptable 90% range nationally.
Now, development of such a measure, referred to as a Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (“HEDIS”) measure, is underway thanks to The California Health Care Foundation and the ZOMA Foundation.
In addition to a measure of screening, there is also a measure being developed to address whether the screening provider followed-up. Here are the proposed measures - which include assessment for screening/follow-up during both pregnancy and the postpartum period.
Read MoreBlack Future Month, What It’s Meant to Me
Black History Future Month, What It’s Meant to Me
February is Black History Month. Now, many are calling February Black Future Month; a time to raise awareness about how to move forward as a nation and continue to heal from the past.
The month of February was officially recognized as Black History Month in 1976 by President Gerald Ford as a time to honor the rich history, culture, contributions, and importance of African Americans. It is also a time, to consider the adversity and inequities that African Americans still face in our country. We invited Kay Matthews, Executive Director of the Shades of Blue Project in Houston, Texas, to share what Black History Month means to her.
There is a pain that lingers deep inside of me that sometimes surfaces to make for very dark days. Tuesday is the day of this particular week that I feel quite out of place. It’s a day I ask myself if I made the right decision to expose my feelings to the world to pick apart at their leisure.
Read MoreDeath by Depression, Not Suicide
Depression is a horrific illness that affects as many as 10% of Americans at any one time. Depression is a brain disease that can cause confusion and distortions in thinking, as well as interference with basic physiologic functions, including: sleep, energy, appetite, motor function and more.
Read MoreMother's Day Meaning
Origins of Mother’s Day
Did you know? Mother’s Day was officially founded in 1908 by Anna Jarvis in honor of her mother, Ann, who had been a bereaved parent of 12 children, only 4 of whom grew to adulthood. She intended the day to be an intimate celebration within families to acknowledge the contributions and sacrifices mothers like hers make for their children.
#Action4Jessica: Jessica Porten's Story Went Viral
This weekend something that has never happened in the maternal mental health happened:
a mother's story went viral on Facebook.
A mom in Sacramento California, went to her Ob/Gyn on Friday for help with postpartum depression with symptoms of anger and scary thoughts, and the next morning, Saturday, January 20, she posted this:
Read MoreHow to Support Grieving Parents
Perinatal loss is an unexpected, traumatic, and life-changing event. It includes miscarriage, termination due to medical reason, stillbirth, and infant death. One in four mothers report experiencing perinatal loss, however the number may be as high as 50%. Annually, approximately 24,000 babies will be stillborn (>20 weeks gestation), and an additional 23,000 infants will die within the first 28 days of life.
Read MoreDo You Know, Really Know, Dr. Wisner's Work?
Each year we kick off our work with our annual forum.
This year, Friday, February 9, we are bringing THE biggest name in maternal mental health to the stage to inspire you, educate you and help the field refine our focus through our policy in action table conversations.
Read More