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Pregnant Pause          

May 27th, 2015                                                                 Issue #48
Because there is no health without mental health!
WHAT PREGNANT AND PARENTING TEENS REALLY NEED

Gloria Malone recently wrote an article in the Huffington Post discussing the necessity of providing support and resources to parenting teens. She describes how as a teen parent, what she needed most was emotional support, but instead she faced judgement from those around her. She suffered through antepartum and postpartum depression, in part because of how much her family and friends focused on the negative consequences her pregnancy would have on her life rather than supporting her as she tried to raise a daughter while finishing school. Eventually, she realized that the symptoms she was experiencing were due to a lack of emotional support, and she began to advocate for other pregnant and parenting teens to reduce stigma and shame. With a group of other women who had experienced teen pregnancies, she launched the #NoTeenShame movement to advocate for support, services and encouragement for teen parents, including access to mental health care. 

 

Click here to read the full article. 


PROJECT HEALTHY MOMS TRAINER CASSIE OWENS FEATURED ON 11 ALIVE NEWS FOR "WALK AND TALK THERAPY"

Cassie Owens, a trainer through Project Healthy Moms' Screening and Identification Training offered to practitioners who treat child-bearing women, was recently featured on 11 Alive News for her "walk and talk therapy". Owens is a Licensed Professional Counselor, and as part of her practice she offers clients the option to conduct therapy on a walk in order to combine psychotherapy with physical activity. Physical exercise can decrease the symptoms of anxiety and depression, and walking or doing other activities during a therapy session can often alleviate some of the awkwardness that comes from talking about difficult feelings. Owens specializes in maternal mental health, so clients often bring a baby stroller during their session. This helps moms not only to receive counseling, but also to get some exercise without having to worry about childcare. 

 

Click here to read more. 


DID YOU KNOW?  

Antidepressants ease postpartum depression: A new review published in the Journal of the American Medical Association  examined the effects of antidepressants on postpartum depression. The authors examined results from three studies in which women with postpartum depression were taking selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and found that antidepressants were effective in reducing symptoms of postpartum depression as compared to an inactive placebo. To read more, click here

 

Moms' depression may flare a year after giving birth: A study in the Annals of Family Medicine found that with repeated screening for postpartum depression at 6 and 12 months postpartum, 13.5% of women were newly at high risk of depression compared to their status when screened soon after giving birth. The authors warn that because there are no clinical practice guidelines for routine screenings for postpartum depression, many women may not receive treatment, especially if symptoms are not present soon after birth. To learn more, follow this link

 

Depression in new mothers can change a child's stress reaction for life: A study in Psychoneuroendocrinology shows that 22-year old adult children born to mothers that had postnatal depression showed greater stress response than those whose mothers had not been depressed. A sample of mothers and children was assessed periodically for two decades. Using a standardized stressful event, researchers measured salivary cortisol to measure how participants responded to stress. Participants whose mothers had postnatal depression had higher levels of stress, measured by elevated salivary cortisol, compared to participants whose mothers did not have postnatal depression. Click here to read more.  

Thank you to the Amerigroup Foundation and Kaiser Permanente for their generous support of the work of Project Healthy Moms.
 
 


LOOKING FOR WAYS TO GET INVOLVED? 

 

1) Follow us on Twitter

2) Check out our Facebook page

3) Sign up for our newsletters

4) Contact us to see if there are any current volunteer opportunities at: [email protected]

SCREENING & IDENTIFICATION TRAINING FOR PERINATAL MOOD AND ANXIETY DISORDERS

 

Project Healthy Moms' PMAD Screening and Identification Trainings are aimed at healthcare providers (e.g. physicians, nurses, social workers) who come in contact with childbearing women. Through this program, healthcare providers who are involved in maternal and child health are trained to recognize symptoms of the various PMADs and consequences of untreated PMADs. During the training, providers learn how to screen mothers for PMADs and are also educated about treatment options and referral methods. The goal of the training is to ensure that healthcare providers are able to correctly and routinely identify and refer women who may be suffering from PMADs in their practices.

 

To learn more and schedule a training, please contact Mika Bangcaya at [email protected] or (678) 904-1963.

RESOURCE LIST

 

Did you know that Mental Health America of Georgia has a resource list for pregnant and postpartum women? It is updated regularly and provides contact information for healthcare providers and outlets for self-care for pregnant and postpartum women.

 

To access the list, visit www.mhageorgia.org, then go to 

Our Programs > Project Healthy Moms > Resource List.

PROJECT HEALTHY MOMS WARMLINE AVAILABLE TO ALL GEORGIA WOMEN

 

The Project Healthy Moms Warmline is available in English and Spanish for ALL Georgia women seeking peer support and resource linkage for perinatal mood and anxiety disorders! Georgia women can call or email the  Project Healthy Moms Warmline to contact a mother who has experienced and overcome perinatal depression/anxiety and who can provide emotional support and suggest appropriate resources. Please leave a message when you call the Warmline, and a support person will respond within 24-48 hours. It does get better!

 

678-904-1966 (#1 for Spanish) 

Email: [email protected] (English)  

[email protected] (Spanish)

 

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!

 

Project Healthy Moms is an important initiative of MHA of Georgia.  Perinatal mood disorders are the most common complication of childbirth.  In the United States, between 10% and 15% of new mothers suffer from these devastating illnesses which, if not properly treated, can have a long-term negative impact on the health of not only the mothers, but their children and families as well.  Our goal is to increase awareness, identification, treatment, and support of perinatal mood disorders in Georgia, while also reducing the stigma associated with them.  To learn more about Project Healthy Moms, click here.

Project Healthy Moms is only one of many programs developed by MHA of Georgia to further our mission of enhancing the mental health of all Georgians through education, outreach, and advocacy. Click here to learn more about MHA of Georgia's other programs.  Your support will help us continue our work educating Georgians about mental illness, striving to eliminate stigma, and advocating on behalf of people with  mental illness in our state.  Click here to support MHA of Georgia.

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