Did you know that depression and anxiety are the number one complication of pregnancy and postpartum? One in seven women suffer from either postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety or both. Symptoms can start either during the pregnancy, after, or last through both. Despite how common mental health symptoms are, many women are afraid to speak up and ask for help. Join me in reducing stigma and letting everyone know that it is okay to ask for help.
The National Coalition for Maternal Mental Health (NCMMH), the California Maternal Mental Health Collaborative (2020 Mom’s Project), and San Diego’s Postpartum Health Alliance are partnering to raise awareness around Maternal Mental Health. The May Campaign this year is built around letting everyone know that “moms matter.” From the NCMMH:
It’s easy to show your support for a mother’s whole health this May by taking part in the May Campaign. The May Campaign is the first national awareness effort spearheaded by the National Coalition for Maternal Mental Health to increase awareness of maternal mental health disorders. This year the theme is “Watching out for you“.
Starting Monday, May 4th to Sunday, May 10th, the NCMMH is asking you to share our daily social media messages and to watch out for moms by hanging an awareness poster somewhere in your community. Through all of our efforts we can make a difference by breaking the stigma and raising awareness of one of the most common complications of childbirth.
If you are interested in helping spread the word, you can download a poster like the one above, post it in your place of work or online, or share one or more of the May Campaign messages in social media. I plan on posting the messages from the PHA’s Facebook and Twitter, since I manage their social media as the Communications Chair. If you follow, PHA, it will be easy to reshare!
Poster courtesy National Coalition for Maternal Mental Health.
What are your thoughts?