 Depression and anxiety are incredibly common both during pregnancy and after childbirth, but sometimes it's hard to get past the jargon and austere clinical descriptions of symptoms. Postpartum Progress features clear, accessible writing from real women who've experienced perinatal emotional complications - Warrior Moms - as well as professionals from all over the country. They also have a private forum and are hosting their first conference in Boston this summer! One of my favorite posts featured photos of women to demonstrate what it looks like when someone is suffering from a perinatal emotional complication (hint: not what you think!). "Plain Mama English" posts describing symptoms of postpartum depression, anxiety and psychosis are probably my other most referenced posts. You can even download nice PDFs to print out. Their newest tool is a New Mom Checklist for Maternal Mental Health Help, a checklist that a postpartum woman can bring to her care provider to start a conversation about getting help. This year is their third putting on the Climb Out of the Darkness, an awareness and fundraising event for Postpartum Progress and perinatal emotional complications. On June 20, there will be a Climb at Walden Pond in Concord, MA and others around the country where women who've experienced perinatal emotional complications and the people who support them will get together outside, create community, and symbolize the journey out of postpartum depression and anxiety and into the light of hope and recovery on the longest day of the year. You can find a climb near you or donate to my "couch" climb effort here. Postpartum Progress started exploring the needs of women of color who suffer perinatal emotional complications and surveyed women of color about their experiences at the beginning of 2015. I hope Postpartum Progress continues engaging and amplifying the voices of women of color, as well as exploring and increasing awareness of unmet needs of mothers of color. This post is part of the RESOURCES series where I feature websites, organizations, and information about perinatal emotional complications, parenting, therapy, reproductive health, and more. If you have a suggestion for a resource you'd like to see profiled, please let me know in the comments! Comments are closed.
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