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MotherWoman in the News,
Press Releases, and Upcoming Events Executive Director Melanie DeSilva testified at a regional public hearing held by the Massachusetts State Commission on the Status of Women. DeSilva submitted the following testimony which will be reviewed by the Commission and incorporated into their state report on the needs of women in Massachusetts. Testimony: My name is Melanie DeSilva. I?m the Executive Director of MotherWoman, a local mother?s advocacy organization. Our mission is to provide programs that support and empower mothers to create personal and social change for themselves, their families, their communities and the world. We have many programs and priorities, but today I want to talk briefly about one of our focuses- postpartum depression and anxiety. Postpartum depression and anxiety is a major public health issue, a feminist issue, and a rarely talked about economic and social justice issue. 10-25% of mothers experience postpartum depression and anxiety. For many of these mothers, the depression and anxiety becomes chronic. Symptoms of postpartum depression include being suicidal. The risk of suicide increases 70 fold in the year after an American mother gives birth. Those at highest risk of postpartum depression and anxiety are women of color, low income mothers, and teenage mothers. Mother?s depression is a feminist issue because maternal depression is culturally stigmatized. Good mothers in our culture are not supposed to be depressed. This stigmatization keeps mothers with depression fearful and isolated, creating an obstacle to personal and economic empowerment, and collective organizing and action. Mothers? depression is a social and economic justice issue because mothers who are depressed often lack the capacity needed to seek out essential services for themselves and their families, including employment, food, fuel and housing assistance, childcare, and treatment for depression. Imagine how hard it is to navigate the social service system as a poor mother. Now, add depression on top of that. Imagine a mother in an abusive relationship trying to escape. Now add depression to that. Mothers? depression is a major public health crisis. Depression increases the risk of child abuse and neglect, and studies show that mother?s depression has a negative impact on children?s cognitive and physical development. MotherWoman is trying to do something about this problem. We are the organizational leaders in the area of maternal depression. We are developing a Postpartum Depression Prevention and Support Program to serve mothers in the Pioneer Valley. We have founded a regional task force called the Postpartum Stress Task Force whose mission it is to create a coordinated plan of service for mothers experiencing postpartum depression and anxiety in the Pioneer Valley- we will be working with DPH?s state advisory board on maternal and infant mental health on this. We run the ONLY support group for mothers experiencing postpartum depression and anxiety west of Worcester and north of Hartford. If you can imagine- one support group for the 800-2000 mothers just in the Pioneer Valley who are right now suffering with postpartum depression and anxiety. Women who live far away with infants and no transportation can?t even GET to this group. We are working hard, but our work is not enough. We have very little funding, which is crippling our ability to do what really needs to be done. We need mandatory screening for postpartum depression and anxiety by care providers with insurance reimbursement. We need more community support groups, we need a public education campaign to reduce the stigma attached to postpartum depression and anxiety. Every medical and social service provider in the Pioneer Valley should be trained in how to screen for, support and refer mothers and families experiencing postpartum depression and anxiety. In short we need an infusion of state money into Western Massachusetts directed at tackling this serious public health, feminist and social and economic justice issue confronting mothers in the Pioneer Valley and beyond. |
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