Webinar: On the Frontlines: Encouragement for Postpartum Moms
The Welcome Baby program‘s Hospital Liaisons see people during a critical and sensitive time — right after they have given birth. During this visit, HL’s provide support with breastfeeding, and they connect patients to community resources that can help their families. HL’s can also help patients with postpartum anxiety or other mental health disorders.
One in five women suffers from a maternal mental health disorder like postpartum depression. Spotting these troubling symptoms early can help at-risk patients minimize some of the suffering they may face down the road.
LA Best Babies Network hosted the webinar below on March 7, 2024, for Welcome Baby Hospital Liaisons and other staff of our network’s home visiting organizations and Welcome Baby hospitals.
In the presentation, Jeanne Clevenger, Psy.D, a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in maternal mental health, talks about:
- The difference between “baby blues” and Perinatal Mood/Anxiety Disorders (PMADs)
- The etiology of PMADs
- The frontline support that Hospital Liaisons can provide
- The power in prevention
- The importance of partner involvement
Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs):
- Can occur during pregnancy
- Onset anytime in the first year postpartum
- Includes infant loss (physiologically considered “postpartum”)
- Anxiety, OCD, Bipolar, PTSD, Psychosis
- Affects infant development, family system, and parenting practices
How Welcome Baby Hospital Liaisons can help:
- Normalize need for support
- Validate the “hard”
- Provide safe space for vulnerability
- Screen and educate — but don’t diagnose!
Watch the webinar recording here, and don’t miss the links to related resources below:
About the presenter:
Jeanne Clevenger, Psy.D. completed her doctoral studies in clinical psychology at Azusa Pacific University. During that time, she trained and worked in a variety of community mental health settings, providing psychotherapy for children and families in multicultural and underserved settings. After becoming a mother herself, and collaboratively working time and time again with the parents of her child clients, Dr. Clevenger’s passions shifted a bit. Her heart was drawn to the women who had challenges birthing and mothering these children, and that expanded to all aspects of motherhood – pregnancy, fertility struggles, postpartum difficulty, and motherhood throughout all the ages. She then sought out a variety of specialized training in maternal mental health, including the Maternal Mental Health NOW Certificate Training — Bringing Light to Motherhood: Maternal Mental Health Advanced Clinical Training and Postpartum Support International’s Maternal Mental Health Professional Certificate Training. In addition, she holds professional membership with Postpartum Support International and Maternal Mental Health NOW in Los Angeles. Dr. Clevenger continues to add to her own learning and training in reproductive mental health in order to better serve and empower more mothers in her community.