FINALLY, parents feel seen.
United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued an advisory this week on the issues of parental stress and mental health in our community. “With this Advisory, I am calling for a fundamental shift in how we value and prioritize the mental health and well-being of parents. I am also outlining policies, programs, and individual actions we can all take to support parents and caregivers,” he said.
We could not agree more- especially knowing what we know about perinatal (pregnancy/postpartum) mental health. Untreated perinatal mental health conditions can lead to a lifetime of physical and mental health issues for parents and their children. These conditions, which include perinatal anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, obsessive-compulsive disorder and substance use disorder, dramatically impact the health of mothers and birthing people in the early days of parenthood, and are the leading complication of childbirth.
The first indicator of a child’s well-being is the well-being of the mother. By adequately supporting the mental health of parents in the perinatal period, our community can prevent mental health concerns from building upon themselves. By catching mental health concerns in parents early and directing them to knowledgeable resources, we can lessen the impact on schools, workplaces and the community at-large. Of note, untreated perinatal mental health conditions cost the State of Wisconsin more than $300 million each year.
We hope to see action steps come from this advisory, and for our own community to heed the warning: we need to do better for parents.
Here's how we can start:
Paid parental leave
Medicaid Expansion (Wisconsin is one of 10 states who haven't passed it)
Comprehensive perinatal mental health support (Ask us how!)
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