This month, nine Metropolitan Doulas attended a gathering of professionals who work with pregnant and postpartum women – doctors, nurses, therapists, midwives, doulas, massage therapists, social workers, and beyond. We met for four hours to talk about perinatal mental health resources in our region and how we can better work together to serve families.
Since most women experience some mood changes when pregnant or after the baby is born, and one in seven have more significant symptoms of depression or anxiety, this is a topic that affects many families in our area. As postpartum doulas, we want to support these families the best we can, and in healthy coordination with other caregivers.
The DMV Perinatal Mental Health Symposium was held at Children’s National Hospital with the over 175 professionals attending from across the region and representing many different roles in perinatal care.
A panel of different types of care providers — obstetrics, pediatrics, psychiatry, and doula care — discussed the way their roles are siloed from each other, preventing coordination of care, and how we may work across these silos to better care for families. We were excited to see doulas represented on the panel – we can be a valuable and effective part of a care team during pregnancy, birth, and the first few months of parenthood!
We were lucky to have Dr. Sayida Peprah give the opening talk about the ways trauma can impact families across generations and how we may support families in their resilience, with a particular emphasis on African-American mothers.
Several of our Metropolitan Doulas attended a breakout session on psychopharmacology – the use of medications to treat depression or anxiety, for example. Dr. Pooja Lakshmin shared research about the relative safety of different medications during pregnancy and breastfeeding, offering ways to screen new parents for depression and anxiety and when and where to refer them for additional help.
A local therapist, Sheryl Aaron, specializing in trauma spoke to a large group about ways care providers can mitigate birth trauma for their clients and patients. She identified risk factors that may contribute to parents developing Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) around their birth experience and specific strategies that can be used prenatally, during delivery, and in the postpartum period to prevent birth trauma.
These presentations opened new opportunities for discussion about our priorities when caring for families. Every family is different, and each is deserving of care that fully supports them and their goals without judgment. This event was an important step toward care providers working together meaningfully to offer that to all families.
If you think you could be supported by a doula during your postpartum period, give us a call for your free consultation.
Photo credit: Lois Quilligan 2019
