Our South Shore community has been hit hard with an unthinkable tragedy associated with postpartum illness. Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders are said to affect up to 1 in 5 women, and often manifest as postpartum depression, anxiety, panic disorder, OCD, PTSD, bipolar disorders, or postpartum psychosis. Complications from child birth and lack of quality postpartum care impact many women worldwide and can result in severe distress. These women and families need our help. Unfortunately, there are many challenges that prevent new mothers from receiving the care they need, including: denied health insurance claims, lack of postpartum support and education including poor follow up on the mothers’ physical and mental health, financial constraints, past history of mental illness, etc. What can we do to help these women and families who are struggling postpartum? How can we provide additional support for those who have already reached out and received some support but not enough? The healthcare industry (including mental health and health insurance agencies) needs to improve the quality of care received by new mothers and their families. These measures should include: enhanced safety standards for postpartum care, longer hospital stays following birth, protected patient access to healthcare and coverage, effective education and real opportunities for women to share their postpartum needs (surveys cannot be the only tool implemented here), financially accessible care for families, transparency between the healthcare provider and patient, a strengthened healthcare workforce (hiring where lacking staff), mental health counseling provided prior to discharge and referrals made as needed, and paid pre and post maternity leave. This is a systemic healthcare issue that is especially prominent in the United States. Reform has been discussed for many years with no real results. We need to ask ourselves why women and families are neglected in this way at arguably the most important moment of their lives and, furthermore, if we can shift towards new healthcare models that focus on preventing tragic postpartum events and help provide women with the much needed care required to bring new lives into the world. Let’s bring more awareness to the severity of these disorders by sharing our stories and coming together to support one another, but also to petition for more awareness and actual change within the system itself. We cannot go back to what was; we need to help new mothers with urgency. Now is the time to take immediate action as we are all feeling the agony of the recent events in our community. Let’s not let this tragedy be overlooked. We must help support and achieve quality postpartum care for all the mothers and families who have been or could be affected by these disorders. We need to do better for our current parents, future parents, and for our children. 

Ashley Stafford, LMHC, mother of two