Category: Uncategorized

Imagine a new mom, alone in the rocking chair in the middle of the night.
She has done everything right—attended all of her prenatal visits, followed her doctor’s advice, and delivered a healthy baby. But something is still very wrong.
She can’t eat, she can’t sleep, and she feels no joy—only fear.

She reaches out for help, only to find silence.
No one knows what to say or where to point her.

The system is not built for her cries to be heard.

If sharing my story saves just one woman—one baby’s mother—from losing her life to perinatal mental illness, it will have been worth it.

If anyone who hears my story is inspired to ask a question that leads to a new safeguard, saving even one patient from the near-tragedy I experienced, then I have succeeded.

If someone learns about the availability of evidence-based treatment and shares it with someone in their network who is on the brink of despair, I have succeeded.

If someone who is suffering reads my story and realizes that it is the system that is broken—not them—and finds the strength to fight another day, I have succeeded.

Then, in sharing my story:

I have given that woman the opportunity to experience the joy of hearing her toddler’s belly-laugh.
The validation of her baby calling her name for a hug.
The pride of seeing her child show kindness for the first time.
The dignity of continuing to live her life after suffering from a treatable medical condition.

I have given that child the opportunity to grow up knowing the love and support of their mother.
The chance to feel the pride of making a card on Mother’s Day.
The comfort of a hug from their mom when they feel sad.
The dignity of continuing to grow up under the care of their parent, despite that parent having once suffered from a treatable medical condition.

To me, dignity means recognizing that no mother should be forced to suffer in silence, that no child should lose their mother to an illness we know how to treat.

No child should lose their mother to an illness we know how to treat.

Perinatal mental health disorders disproportionately affect Black moms and low-income moms.
The evidence of this disparity, along with the high morbidity and mortality rates associated with these conditions, is clear.
The evidence regarding effective treatments is also clear.

If we do not choose to act with urgency on the information we have, we are choosing to allow women to die from treatable conditions.
We are choosing to allow children to lose their mothers to treatable conditions.

What does that say about how much we value these moms and these babies?

There is no dignity in this.

We must change the system. Specifically, we must:

• Provide & require perinatal mental health training for providers
• Implement and scale evidence-based treatment and prevention programs
• Adequately fund those programs

Anything less is a failure to care.
Lives depend on this.
The choice is ours: act now—or continue to allow preventable suffering and loss on a profound scale.