Awareness Archives - Page 2 of 8 - Postpartum Progress

PSI Announces New President & New Programming

By Katherine Stone August 9, 2012 Leave a Comment

There’s lots of news coming out of Postpartum Support International that you should know about:

First, PSI has a new president. Leslie Lowell Stoutenberg, RNC, MS, is the Manager of the model Pregnancy & Postpartum Mood & Anxiety Disorder Program at St. Alexius Medical Center & Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital in Hoffman Estates, Ill., and has been involved with PSI as a member for many years. Click here for Leslie’s first message as president of PSI, as well as to see Dr. Lucy Puryear’s outgoing message as she leaves her position as PSI president.

Also, PSI will be partnering with the California Maternal Mental Health Collaborative to offer a new, monthly, FREE teleseminar series entitled “Perinatal Mental Health Inpatient and Intensive Outpatient Treatment Programs.” The series is designed to help healthcare providers and organizations interested in developing special programs to treat women with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders like postpartum depression. The series will kick off on Wednesday, August 29th, from 3:30-4:30 Eastern (12:30-1:30 Pacific). To participate, the call-in number is 1-805-360-1000 and the access code is 942812. Future calls will be held on the last Wednesday of each month.

Finally, PSI has announced its call for proposals for its annual conference to be held next June in Minneapolis. Proposals are due September 9th. Click here for more information as well as a link for submissions.

August 9, 2012 10:33 am Filed Under: Awareness

Postpartum Depression Out of the Shadows

By Katherine Stone July 29, 2012 3 Comments

I’m dancing for joy this morning because of this story in the Los Angeles Times: Bringing New Mothers’ Pain Out of the Shadows.

One reason is because it highlights the amazing and fabulous Kimberly Wong, a Warrior Mom, a friend, and an amazing advocate for women with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. She founded the Los Angeles County Perinatal Mental Health Task Force.

The other reason is because the story explains what so many of us already know, that much of the healthcare community is inadequately trained to recognize postpartum depression, even in Los Angeles. To wit:

“Her doctor told her she was simply a high-strung lawyer who needed to relax. So she blamed herself, which made matters worse.”

And there’s more:

“She penned a suicide note. By luck, her husband walked in on her. He took her to a Mid-City mental hospital so she wouldn’t harm herself. Nobody at the hospital had much expertise in what she was battling.”

Thank you, Kurt Streeter of the LA Times, for this fantastic story and for bringing more awareness of postpartum depression to the public.

July 29, 2012 10:24 am Filed Under: Awareness

NY Postpartum Depression Awareness Campaign Says “Ask the Question”

By Katherine Stone May 21, 2012 6 Comments

The Nassau County Department of Health Perinatal Services Network, in collaboration with Zucker Hillside Hospital and several other organizations, has created a new public service campaign on postpartum depression called “Ask the Question.”

Dr. Tina Walch, director of adult ambulatory services at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, NY, and the head of the hospital’s Perinatal Psychiatry Service, explains, “Our goal is to get people to ask a pregnant woman or mother of a newborn how she is doing and if she feels that she might need help for herself or for her newborn. It’s important to ask the question and to really listen to the answer.”

The campaign has a new website you can check out. Plus, I just watched the public service announcement video they created on YouTube and thought you might like to see it as well.

IFRAME Embed for Youtube

May 21, 2012 11:26 am Filed Under: Awareness, Postpartum Depression

The Ultimate Symbol of Postpartum Depression Recovery

By Katherine Stone April 17, 2012 12 Comments

Several years ago, with the help of a graphic artist, I created the Warrior Mom logo for Postpartum Progress. I wanted a symbol that was positive. That represented the strength and courage it takes to get through postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, postpartum psychosis, antenatal depression and the rest. Something that would combat the ridiculously negative images the media portrays about women with PPD.

Since then, I have learned how much more powerful the Warrior Mom logo is than I could have expected. You have displayed it on your websites. You have put it on jewelry. You have emailed me and called yourself Warrior Moms proudly. And yesterday, this:

A real-live Warrior Mom tattoo!!!!! People have been telling me for a year or so that they wanted to get one, but this is the first picture I’ve gotten of an actual Warrior Mom tattoo. Thank you, Nicole! You made my day. This is just awesome.

April 17, 2012 9:57 am Filed Under: Awareness