Online group for GA moms with PPD at Cafemom and a weekly online support group beginning in August!

I am very excited to let you know about a new partnership we at MHA of Georgia are launching with CafeMom, which is the leading website for mothers, reaching 6 million moms each month. As part of our Project Healthy Moms initiative, we are working with CafeMom to create a unique online support group for local mothers suffering from postpartum depression and other perinatal mood disorders.  You can visit the new group, "Georgia PPD Support" at Cafemom.  The group will be a central place online where moms in Georgia can meet each other, ask for advice, and find support for their mental health struggles. The group will also feature a weekly live chat I will be facilitating.  Details about the live online support group chat will be announced in the next couple of weeks.

We hope this partnership between MHA of Georgia and CafeMom will help to provide new moms the peer support and connection to resources that they need in their journey towards wellness in the perinatal period (the time of pregnancy and one year following childbirth). In Georgia, it is estimated that every year about 20,000 women experience a perinatal mood or anxiety disorder. Unfortunately, these illnesses are still not on the public health radar screen. Consequently, there are very few providers with specialized training in this area and only one consistent live support group in the entire state. If you are a GA mom who has experienced PPD, you might have personally endured this challenging dilemma of extremely limited support and resources.  The Georgia Moms with PPD online support group is one step towards closing this gap in services. 

While the group will be aimed at women living in Georgia, and conversations around resources in the state of GA will likely ensue, anyone is welcome to join.  There is no fee associated with the group or the online support chat.  If you'd like to join the discussion and connect with other mothers now, please go to Georgia PPD Support at Cafemom.  Once on the page, you may sign-up by entering just a few pieces of information and creating an account.  My screen-name is AtlantaPPDMom; when you are viewing posts or participating in the chat you will see my comments and posts associated with this name.

Would you help us spread the word about this new partnership and support group? We encourage you to pass along a link to the group to your email contacts and/or let your members, clients, family, friends, neighbors, etc. know about it in any upcoming communications you have.  If you blog, tweet, Facebook or participate in other social networking communications, would you consider passing along word about this resource?  It will be only as successful as we are at spreading the word about this FREE, supportive and consistently available resource.  

Partnership with Mental Health America of GA to expand resources in Atlanta and the state of GA

I am thrilled to share with you that I will be working with Mental Health America of Georgia regularly in the area of Perinatal Mental Health.  What that looks like is still TBD, but for now we are getting started on work to expand resources, including peer support, so that moms all over metro Atlanta, and eventually Georgia will have plenty of tools at their fingertips should they be confronted with a PMD.  Here's the announcement that is currently posted on MHA of GA's homepage:

A recent article in Obgyn.net stated that "despite the recent growth in publicity, postpartum depression is still all too often unrecognized or cavalierly dismissed. However, this common disorder is readily diagnosed and treated by the primary care physician who is willing to take the most basic measures." (For the complete article, click here)

In an effort to increase awareness and education, encourage the use of depression screening tools and improve the availability of effective treatment and support services that promote maternal mental health, certain areas of the country declared May as Perinatal Mental Health month.

Actress Brooke Shields and Senator Robert Menendez (R-NJ) were recently among participants at a press conference announcing the passage of the Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act which will also help to educate mothers and their families about these conditions as well as support research into the causes, diagnoses and treatments for postpartum depression and psychosis.


The statistics speak for themselves.  Between 15 and 20 percent of all women experience some form of pregnancy-related depression or anxiety.  A recent article in the Seattle times quoted a study in the AMA Journal which found that 10.4 percent of men experienced serious depression at some point between his partner's first trimester and one year after childbirth, more than double the depression rate for men in general. (For the complete article, click here).

MHA of GA is in the process of expanding our work in this area and we are pleased that Amber Koter-Puline is partnering with us as we move this initiative forward.  Amber is the author of the blog Beyond Postpartum, website author of Postpartum Healing and is a facilitator of the Atlanta Postpartum Support Group.

More information on this expanded program will be available soon.  However, if you would like to know more now, please contact Sarah Schwartz at sarah@mhageorgia.org.

From the MHA website: Mental Health America of Georgia (formerly known as the National Mental Health Association of Georgia) is our state's leading nonprofit dedicated to helping all Georgians live mentally healthier lives.  With our state-wide affiliates, we represent a growing movement of Americans who promote mental wellness for the health and well-being of everyone in our state, emphasizing mental health as a critical component of a healthy lifestyle.