Ep. 73 Postpartum Care in the US Missing Key Components of Care

Every year, about 1 in 5 expecting and new parents experience symptoms of depression and/or anxiety. While most new mothers suffer from mood swings within the first few weeks, some pregnant and postpartum parents have intense feelings of sadness, worry, anger, numbness, or self-doubt that persist for months. Unfortunately, services are seriously lacking for parents in the United States, particularly when it comes to postpartum mental health.  Anchor Perinatal Wellness provides unique and specialized mental health programming for pregnant and postpartum people, including a free, walk-in screening clinic, outpatient services and an intensive outpatient program to pregnant and postpartum adults who are struggling with a perinatal mood and anxiety disorder (PMAD).  Anchor was founded by three Latina women who recognized that they shared a passion for expanding mental health services for perinatal people and they opened their program in May of 2022. Today we are joined by two of the founders of Anchor Perinatal, Roxanne Rosenberg, a licensed mental health counselor and Veronica Kemeny, a licensed clinical social worker.  Today, in part one of our conversation with the Anchor team we dive into a discussion of PMADs, lessons we can learn from other countries, and how PMAD’s are showing up differently in minority populations. Our discussion today included: • The struggle of prenatal depression, which is not as widely known • What is PMAD’s and why is it so pervasive in our society • Systemic issues in our country that are stacked against parents • An exploration of systems and approaches found in other countries • How PMAD’s show up in minority communities and the dangers this poses • The often unexplored fourth “F” in Fight, Flight, or Freeze • Things you can do to make a difference in support for parents struggling through PMAD’s Thank you to our sponsor: HER Circle Patreon (  / herhealthcollective  ) Resources Mentioned in Episode: MAAME (https://maameinc.org/) PSI International (https://www.postpartum.net/) Anchor Perinatal Wellness (https://www.anchorperinatal.com/)