By Emily Freeman, HMHB Storytelling Coordinator
Photos by Kim Giannone
May is Maternal Mental Health Month.
Maternal Mental Health Month can be a good time to remember that motherhood doesn’t always feel – on the inside – quite the same way it appears on the outside. All manner of challenges and stressors may lurk behind the smiling family portrait posted on social media. That perfect mom you see at pre-school pick-up? She may be holding back deep grief over a lost pregnancy, or shame about needing help with a problem she can’t yet put words to, the solution to which she can’t yet identify.
Perinatal mental health challenges can vary widely. While some issues may require robust support from trained professionals and systems, others can be helped along through person-to-person, community-based care, which we can all be a part of. This can be as simple as smiling at a struggling mom to make her feel seen, and not like her crying baby is a burden; it can be a few small words spoken to a stranger in line at the grocery store: You’re doing great. It can be a weekly moms meetup at the park that begins as a group of strangers, and soon becomes a place to connect, to vent, to heal. These points of human connection are so important.
Real Stories from Montana Moms
At HMHB, Maternal Mental Health Month provides us with an opportunity to highlight some of the lived experiences that mothers across the state have been bold and generous enough to share. In last year’s issue of LIFTS magazine, Shayla Horner wrote about the support and medical advice she received for her bipolar disorder, allowing her to become the strong and stable mom her daughters deserve. Kelsie Christensen wrote about the encouragement she received from a local moms group which helped her manage her anxiety in the early months of motherhood. On the Mother Love podcast, Rachael Watters shared her harrowing journey through postpartum psychosis, and how she continues to grow and heal.
Insights from Perinatal Mental Health Experts
In addition to these invaluable stories from moms, we’re honored to be able to share the lived experience of our trusted network experts and providers working with, and for, moms and families during this season of life. In the 2023 edition of LIFTS, Dr. Ariela Frieder offered her wisdom and expertise as a perinatal psychiatrist, including a perinatal mood and anxiety disorder checklist for moms, and resources to guide them towards getting the help they might need.
Recent guests on the Mother Love podcast have included Amy Lowney, a labor and delivery nurse who pivoted to postpartum doula work to better address the mental and emotional needs of moms after they left the hospital. Last year, we spoke with perinatal mental health expert Diana Barnes, an episode which not only addressed the way that maternal mental health can have unintended legal consequences, but provided an opportunity for listeners to hear mothers across two generations in conversation about their own experiences with postpartum mood disorders.
Explore the LIFTS Resource Guide
Maternal Mental Health is a good time to share and bookmark our LIFTS online resource guide. LIFTS offers a searchable, and frequently updated, database of resources around the state, with categories such as Mental Health Providers, Family Support and Education, Cultural Connections, and more. It’s a great resource to share with parents, or with providers who interface with, and support, families during this season of life.
In June, we’re hosting the 8th annual Perinatal Mental Health Conference, a chance for providers from across the state to come together to share, strategize, and enjoy the camaraderie of a vast network of those who work collectively to improve and sustain the health of moms in our state. We’re looking forward to learning together, and pooling the knowledge that each of us will bring from our different pocket of this vast and diversely resourced state. You can get a taste of the conference by viewing Dr. Samantha Greenberg’s “Perinatal Mental Health 101” session from last year’s conference. If you’d like to join us this year, you can find more information and register here.
Each month, our expert hub publishes didactics to empower clinicians in evidence-based best practices in the care and treatment of pregnant and postpartum patients who have mental health concerns. All trainings are presented free of charge to Montana healthcare professionals.
On October 15-16, the in-person conference was held at the 
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