Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health

Commanding action - our short term goal with regard to federal and state Policy is to continue to further establish a foundation of understanding the range and onset of disorders, the barriers to evidence based/promising treatments and supports, and to understand increased risk and systemic barriers facing marginized populations - and to develop a related federal strategic plan with a coordinated interagency/department response. Our long term (15-25 year) goal is to see both a reduction in new cases and a Health care system that systematically detects those who are are risk and are suffering and consistently provides evidence-based interventions and treatments. We wish to see federal and state governments that are well educated and equipped to respond to changing needs within the field. This year, the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health (the "Policy Center"), formerly 2020 Mom, made numerous Policy and advocacy advances, including introducing the federal legislation, the taskforce recommending improvements for unaddressed Mental perinatal and postpartum Health (triumph) for new mothers act and deeply supporting efforts of a black-led sister non-profit in advocacy related to the moms matter act, aimed at increasing the number of black/brown Maternal Mental Health specialits and providing funding to community based organizations providing Maternal Mental Health services to marginallized communities. Our advocacy work included drafting and circulating 4 letters of support for these critical bills and obtaining 172 organizational sign-ons, and creating action alerts urging individuals to contact their law makers, leading to 799 individuals in our network taking action on these policies. In addition to the work on these two key pieces of legislation, the Policy Center submitted 15 comment letters to federal officials and congressional leaders. These letters included addressing the importance of addressing Maternal Mental Health and the pathways forward, as well as addressing general Mental Health infrastructure in a letter to the senate finance committee, and providing a miminum of 4 weeks paid parental leave after the birth of a child, in a letter to senator manchin, a key decision maker with the build back better act. Further, we signed onto 52 letters of support directed to lawmakers and federal agencies which were drafted by partner organizations.in 2021 we also established new key relationships with the surgeon general's office, the white house, the Health and human services agency and continued to meet with other key agencies for which we already had established relationships, including the cdc, hrsa and samhsa. We also continued the public Health fellows program providing training and technical assistance to public Health departments across the country. These programs provide 12 months of training in learning community settings, covering a core-set of topics, with presentations and ample time for robust discussions and action planning. Feedback from a recent fellow: "while i had more than 20 years' experience in the field of Mental Health, i was both new to my position within state government and to the field of Maternal Mental Health when i was selected to participate in the fellows program. As fellow, i not only learned about federal and state programs and policies that address Maternal Mental Health, but i was also provided access to an incredible cohort of individuals from across the country who were doing some incredibly innovative things around Maternal Mental Health. The knowledge and information i gained by participating in the fellows program informed the development of a pilot initiative that uses quality improvement science to determine best-practice implementation of perinatal depression screenings in pediatric practices. This pilot is seeing great success and there are plans to scale the initiative to go statewide. Sincere thanks for providing such an enriching experience."

State certified peer support specialist research - the Policy Center is working to propel the use of state certified peer support specialists (cpss) to augment behavioral Health professional shortages, to provide those in need with trusted and knowledgeable support, to provide those with lived experience meaningful and needed paid work opportunities, to build the capacity of obstetric providers in addressing Maternal Mental Health disorders and to support community based organizations using peer support with sustainable income streams. Our short term goal is to educate the field about this very promising solution. Our long term goal is to see certified peer support specialists in every community based organization serving mothers and in obstetric settings, including ob/midwife practices and high risk pregnancy and neonatal intensive care settings, for example. In 2022, the Policy Center concluded a second pilot study on the use of state certified Mental Health peer specialists in the black community. The target population in this second study, peer support for mamas: tackling isolation and depression in California's black mothers, was black mothers (including those with birth loss) who identified as peers to those who've experienced a Maternal Mental Health complication/distress. The project team engaged black-led doula organizations and other advocates to connect to mothers throughout the state. The project combined the national training used for certified peer specialists along with specialized Maternal Mental Health peer support curriculum, training 30 black mothers. More specifically, the training included the peer employment certification training with the specialty certificate in Maternal Mental Health peer support. Conclusions from this project were that Mental Health care that is centering and affirming of diverse voices, and in particular - black experiences - is rare. The traditional clinical medical and behavioral Health system generally disregards a significant percentage of the people for whom it is charged with their care. Many individuals don't necessarily trust clinical providers, particularly if they're from a different racial or ethnic background. They're worried that they won't receive the same quality of treatment. This is an unfair challenge for someone already coping with Mental Health complications. This pilot project not only readied 30 black perinatal Mental Health peers in California, it created a new program that is a key foundational step to address the need to expand peer support for Maternal Mental Health and black Maternal Mental Health in the u.s.

Mom congress - Mom congress, a project of the Policy Center, welcomed ebony wrenn, m.ed as program director in august 2022. Ebony's expertise in early childhood development and working with parents as a school principal will position her well as the executive director when the organization becomes an independent 501c3. This year Mom congress hosted an in-person convention in d.c., which drew in nearly 200 attendees and speakers and further elevated Mom congress as a force in the Maternal child Health movement. Thirty-four scholarships with lodging support were provided by the w.k. Kellogg-funded community outreach and access fund, with travel support funding provided by cigna for 20 black, indigenous or other people of color (bipoc) attendees. Forty percent of convention attendees self reported race/ethnicity as bipoc. Mom congress held our annual "saving and supporting moms" congressional briefing during the convention. At the briefing, the cdc released its most recent report on Maternal mortality. Additionally, speakers from zero to three, the marshall plan for moms, and clasp shared Policy strategies with congress and our members to address Maternal Health, childcare, and poverty.

All other related programs include advocacy, education, ambassadors, blue dot, training/conferences, storytelling, craveable content, zoma capacity grant, communities of practice, co-laboratory.