Women’s Mental Health Initiative
This is an initiative to create a resource/hub for the mental health of women pre- and post -natal in Jackson with the help of St, Johns Medical Center. We are creating a position with a trained professional that women can utilize free-of-charge as a hub for their post-natal mental health.
This person has a background in mental health, understands where the pit falls lay, and can refer women to therapists who are trained in women’s mental health and post-partum depression (PPD). This person meets with mothers before they’re discharged with resources and provides information and references
I didn’t have any experience personally with mental illness before I had children. I suffered from post-partum depression twice. First after giving birth to my older daughter, and the second time during my pregnancy. Looking back I think I actually was depressed much of my first pregnancy but didn’t know how to identify it.
Getting help seemed easy, it looked like the resources were there, but in reality it was either too little too late, or not accessible enough to handle the process with an infant - which defeats the whole purpose right?
My OB/gyn asked how I was feeling emotionally throughout my pregnancy, and I gave general answers, unless I has been experiencing something particularly acute before my appointment.
I didn’t see them again until 6-weeks after we were discharged from the hospital. This, I think is a fundamental flaw in the system. There is so much that happens in the first 6 weeks post-partum - physically and emotionally - that goes unchecked. I was going to plenty of pediatrician appointments, where they routinely asked me how I was feeling - at which point I would say “fine” with tears welling up in my eyes. “This isn’t their job,” I’d think. “They’re here for the baby, I don’t need to tell them I’m feeling crappy.”
There is plenty of info on the internet. Suggestions like getting outside, exercising, eating well, meeting up with friends. I was doing all that, and not feeling any better. It wasn’t until my 6-week OB appointment that when they asked how I was feeling I broke down. They offered to perscribe me Zoloft, which I refused.
There was a wall in the office that held cards of therapists. I’d decided to break my long-standing, unbased aversion to therapy and give it a go. It was clear I needed it. But where to start? I picked a few cards that looked good off the wall. The person with the most acronyms? Check. Well designed card? Check. Woman? Check. There was nothing to indicate specialization in post-partum mental health except their card was in the OB’s office.
I didn’t think I had PPD. I thought having PPD meant I resented my baby? I didn’t. Didn’t it mean I wanted to hurt myself? I didn’t. Didn’t it mean I was thinking of abandoning my child or my marriage? I wasn’t. The way I was feeling was not in line with any pre-conceived notions that I had of PPD. Therein lies another flaw in the system we have: not enough information about the variations and scale of severity PPD can have.
I scheduled appointments with a few therapists - no easy feat with an infant and a job. I saw a few and didn’t connect with any, but kept going out of desperation to get some sort of answer/help/closure. I kept paying $125-150/hr - none of which was covered by insurance.
At this point I was about 6 months post-parturm and our life was falling into a good groove, the weather was improving, and I could feel myself lifting as I left a session knowing I wasn’t going back again.
What I needed on my path was someone to:
- Check in on me between 0-6 weeks.
- Ask more specific questions then, “how are you feeling?”
- Refer me to therapists in Jackson who were 1) specialists and 2) accepting new patients
- Give some immediate, actionable advice that didn’t cost $125/hr
- Answer a phone call or hold office hours where I could drop by and ask questions.
These things shouldn’t be something new mothers or their partners have to search for when times are tough. A resource should be in place and in plain view for everyone to utilize - for free and when they need it most.
