Tools for talking with your health care providers and support team about maternal mental health

A question often asked is, "how do I describe how I am feeling to my doctor?", or "My family doesn't understand, how do I talk to them about how I feel?"

I would like to give you some tools for these situations.

Tools for talking with your health care providers and support team about maternal mental health

Situations:

  • First conversations about maternal mental health with a health care provider:
    • OBGYN
    • Midwife
    • Primary Care Physician
    • Psychiatrist
    • Therapist, Counselor, or Social Worker
  • Ongoing conversations with maternal mental health care providers

Tools:

  • PPD Risk Assessment During Pregnancy: This tool from The Postpartum Stress Center, can be helpful to you, your family, and your health care providers to identify risk factors for PPD, and also identify which risk factors can be addressed to lessen your risk, and mobilize your support network. NOTE: while this tool is titled “During Pregnancy” it is still of use for during the entire perinatal time frame.
  • New Mom Checklist for Maternal Mental Health Help: from Postpartum Progress, a checklist to facilitate helpful conversation between struggling mothers and professionals. This can help both mothers and their clinicians get a clear picture of how to best get treatment.
  • Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS): This is a screening tool to be used by a licensed health care provider and may be part of your first appointment with a provider.

Situations:

  • During pregnancy, conversations with your personal support team (husband/partner, family, and close friends) when you have had trouble conveying what you are feeling and thinking.

Tools:

Williamsburg Group Will Move to Williamsburg Library in July 2014

Some great news. The Williamsburg Group will be meeting in the same time/place in June 2014, but will be changing to the Williamsburg Regional Library from 11AM - 12:30PM starting July 2014. Still second Tuesday of the month, so the first meeting in the new place will be July 8th.

Plan for a smooth postpartum transition

Many people have heard of, and written their birth plans and a postpartum plan is just as important. Regardless of whether you are concerned about postpartum mood disorders it is important to identify resources for mom and the rest of the family.

Postpartum Support Williamsburg has written a starter form to help you plan for the enormous changes your entire family with undergo during the postpartum period. I recommend using this form to guide several conversations between mom, partner, close family, friends, extended friends and family, and your birth team. Talk through these questions with your OB, midwife, doula, and pediatrician - they may know of additional resources in your locality.

Plan for a smooth postpartum transition. You know you will be tired and even when things go well, having already talked through who your additional resources are makes finding help easier.

And if you didn't do this before baby was born, it isn't too late. I recommend moms do this at any point when they need to find additional support.

Click the link to find the starter form: Your Family's Positive Postpartum Plan

Welcome to Postpartum Support for Williamsburg, VA

Hello, as a survivor of perinatal and postpartum depression brought on by my first pregnancy (I am now a fully recovered mother of 2 children) I know that looking for help can be exhausting. I hope that by finding this website you know that you have started the path to being well.

Please use the links:
Peer Support Group Meetings and About the Facilitators to learn what Postpartum Support Williamsburg can offer, and for more Virginia Resources use the links to the right.



Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.
- Buddhist nun, Pema Chodron

What to expect at a peer support group meeting

Talking with other women who have survived postpartum depression can be extremely helpful.  Support groups offer the opportunity to validate experiences, share coping strategies, and gain support and encouragement.

What You Can Expect
Our support group starts on time (call (757) 349-6441 for more information); however we welcome all comers whenever you can get there.


Toys and board books are available for any babies that join us.

Chairs are setup in a circle.

Feeding your baby anyway you choose to is always welcome.
Read more »

Books Postpartum Support Williamsburg Recommends

These books are all part of the Postpartum Support Williamsburg collection:


I reccommend anything by Karen Kleiman, a licensed clinical social worker and founder and director of the Postpartum Stress Center near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she treats women with postpartum depression and their families. Here are a few books that we recommend by her, all available new and used on amazon.com (the titles are linked to the amazon page):
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HOW TO: The first call to a doctor or therapists office

The first phone call to a doctor or therapist can feel daunting. I wasn't even able to make the first call; my husband had to do it. This was actually a blessing because he was very forceful with the receptionist and made it clear I needed to be seen soon. He was initially told it would be 6 weeks until I could get an initial evaluation appointment with the psychiatrist, but my husband asked a great question: "Can you get us on the list to call if there is a cancellation?". We were put on the list. FYI, the words "infant", "pregnancy", "newborn", and "postpartum" all trigger a more urgent need, so we were called THE NEXT DAY for an appointment the following day. So, here is my advice when making the first call to a therapist or psychiatrist:
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