Maternal depression affects a distressingly large number of California women each year-60,000 to 100,000--and yet most expecting and new moms in our state are not consistently screened for depression, and therefore are not diagnosed and offered treatment. Research suggests that when moderate to severe cases of maternal depression and other mental health disorders are left untreated, not only does the mother's health suffer, but so does her ability to parent and bond with her infant, as well as the stability of her marriage or partner relationships, and the long-term health and well-being of all of her children.  Below are a couple of innovative projects that are addressing this issue.

The 2020 Mom Project

The 2020 Mom Project is working to increase the number of women who are screened for maternal depression with a validated tool.  The Project has identified a list of recommendations for hospitals, physicians, and health insurers (e.g., hospitals should cover maternal depression as a topic during prenatal classes, train staff about maternal depression, protect mothers' sleep, and distribute information about maternal depression to mothers when they are discharged from the hospital).  If the recommendations are adopted, the hospital, physician, or health insurer will receive formal recognition (similar to "Baby-Friendly Hospitals").  There is also an array of resources at the Project's website where providers can sign up for free webinars on maternal mental health and obtain free posters that can be customized to include an agency's logo.http://www.2020mom.org/ 

Pilot Project in Home Visiting

In Alameda County, 58 percent of mothers enrolled in a county public health department home visiting program screened positive for depression, and 39 percent of the parents had some history of psychiatric issues or were currently under psychiatric care. First 5 Alameda County, through funding from Project LAUNCH (a grant program of the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration), has piloted a program in which a highly-skilled mental health clinician works within existing public health home visiting programs to provide consultation to home visitors, provide direct mental health services to a limited number of clients, and make referrals to mental health treatment as appropriate.  

The key element of this model is making available a Mental Health (MH) Specialist to mentor and consult with home visitors regarding the complex mental health issues their clients face.  You can read the full First 5 Alameda County brief, Integrating Mental Health Supports into Home Visiting Programs. To expand this critical service, California Project LAUNCH recommends that state and county-level early childhood agencies and organizations work together to incorporate maternal depression screening and early childhood mental health services into home visiting programs. 

Will California Come to the Rescue?

A pending resolution before the California Assembly - Concurrent Resolution #ACR 148 - calls for establishing a task force to study, review and identify current barriers to screening and diagnosis for maternal depression, current treatment options (for women both privately & publicly insured), and evidence-based and emerging treatment options that are scalable in all insurance settings. Our statewide First 5 Association submitted a letter of support for this resolution, which reads in part:

WHEREAS, Maternal depression and other mood disorders are serious and debilitating, but treatable disorders. Children born to mothers with untreated depression are more likely to have developmental problems and higher utilization of medical and mental health care over their lifetimes. Therefore, it is critical that women who are suffering from depression or another maternal mental health disorder be diagnosed and treated.
 

How You Can Help

As you can see, there are a lot of important steps being taken to deal with this critical need.  Please help however you can.   Here are some possibilities:

Join the 2020 Mom Project movementhttp://www.2020mom.org/join_the_movement 

 Help promote public awareness through the National Alliance for Mental Illness - NAMI http://www.namicalifornia.org/

http://www.mmhcoalition.com/get_involved2