Over the past year, I’ve made it a point in my advocacy efforts to focus more on women of color,talking with them abouttheir mental health experiences during pregnancy and the postpartum period. On the basis of those conversations and my own personal experience, I’ve become especially interested in how perinatal mood disorders and their symptoms impact and manifest in our lives, what culturally specific barriers to support and treatment we encounter, and what mental health advocacy efforts To be honest I will talk about how we can but for now, I’m interested to hear your thoughts. You should take it into account. Now this has to change. Do you know an answer to a following question. Mothers of color, what has your experience been, and what kinds of supports and programs do you think would serve us better?
And therefore that the need to By the way I also know that efforts are seriously lagging behind whenit gets to the maternal mental health of women of color, while I fully understand that postpartum mood disorders don’t discriminate looking at the who they impact. It’s unacceptable and as a woman of color and survivor of postpartum depression and anxiety, it hurts my heart to know our maternal mental health is not being actively prioritized, much less thought of. And so it’s a situation which greatly needs to be remedied. Undoubtedly it’s extremely dismissive of mothers as a person and directly impacts the quality of care available to the child from the mother. Consequently. Of course, it interfered with my ability to receive quality care and therapy for my Perinatal Mood Anxiety Disorders, while I’m not a WOC. Usually, in my humble opinion, a completely new mother, on Medicaid for pregnancy, will remain on Medicaid for a minimum of 6 months -12 months after the birth of a child in the event problems.
YES.
Lauren I fully agree.
Lots of still aren’t and that directly impacts lowerincome mothers, while ACA has tried to encourage states to adopt a Medicaid expansion that should increase services for many. Lots of mental health providers wouldn’t accept it as insurance. Medicaid issue is awful. It was very frustrating for me to push for continuation of my coverage with Alex post pregnancy AND when I finally started seeking treatment? Now let me tell you something. MH providers don’t accept it even if it ‘didhow’ does this support new mothers, if Medicaid doesn’t last past 6 weeks. That’s interesting. It dictates what degree of care you receive from providers and doesn’t last long enough after pregnancy really.
It’s incredibly restrictive and erases access to care.
Especially those in lower income areas?
It pretty much leaves mothers on their own. How are they supposed to receive help? Normally, we definitely need to push lobby for better policy and programs. Anyway, thank you, A’Driane for never growing weary of problems that receive little national attention. All women are served because Thank you, PPP, for sharing the reach of your audience. There’s something about that specific kind of sisterhood and commonality that really builds you up as a woman of color. So, yES Alexandra. Now let me tell you something. So, that’s my hope, since I desperately searched for that when I was going through it and even during recovery. As a result, more of us need spaces that are inclusive and where all women can find someone who is like them. Thank you A’Driane a lot for sharing this and for your passionate advocacy always.
Who are considered Women of Color?
White.
Women of color are exactly that. Hispanic/Latina, Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, Native American, Indian, and stuff Of color, mothers of color, people/person of color, and all that stuff all refer to people who are not considered White. Normally, thanks! In addition to Black so I just wanted to clarify, in my neighborhood and our school we have many friends/families of Asian. Middle Eastern, and Hispanic/Latina decent/heritage. Some info can be found by going online. That makes sense and I can understand that. While talking therapies, etcetera and stuff together with the cultural meaning and rituals of child birth, gender of the baby, role of families, language and suchlike are not fully understood nor considered, concerns about access to services. In the UK mostly there’re similar problems surrounding Maternal Mental Health especially understanding,recognising and treatment of Postnatal Depression for women we refer to as grey and ethnic minorities. Dear A’Driane Nieves, a very poignant and truly honest article. Although, willing to discuss further. Basically, pND and BME women in Rural areas in England remains only one study of its kind. Plenty of info can be found on the web. While asking questions, please write.
You and PP are making a real difference.
Everything you write rings true.
Driane Thank you very much for this article. So ‘system’ that they have available to them isn’t friendly and empathetic, Undoubtedly it’s very judgmental. Gaining trust is so important but And so it’s something that takes time to earn. Yes we do have there’s a very big trust issue whenever it boils down to discussing mental health especially about having their children taken away from them. Actually I agree with most of the points here, as a social worker.