Tiffany Kaszuba, Vice President Cavarocchi Ruscio Dennis Associates
Manager to the Coalition for Health Funding

CFYM continues the series on mental health funding with a look at how the sequestration is affecting access to care in local communities and shares ways your voice can make a difference.

In our last post, we took note of the federal agencies that make up the public health continuum and their contributions to mental health specifically. Together, these agencies work to prevent illness and promote wellness, provide care for the afflicted, make sure that health professionals are there when we need them, monitor the threats facing Americans, and put in place policies and procedures to protect their health. However, despite the critical work of keeping Americans both physically and mentally healthy, these agencies have scarce resources that continue to disappear as austerity maintains its hold on the federal budget.

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Tiffany Kaszuba, Vice President Cavarocchi Ruscio Dennis Associates
Manager to the Coalition for Health Funding

We advocate for our own medical care, we advocate to our senators and representatives for laws to improve mental health care, but are we reaching everyone who has a say in mental health care policy and delivery? In fact, most policy is developed, implemented, and enforced by regulatory agencies; there are at least a half-dozen federal agencies charged with aspects of addressing mental health.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll explain the structure and roles of some of these agencies and their programs, including how they are funded. After all, if we are advocating for improvement in the mental health care system, we need to understand what works (and what doesn’t) and what it costs.

Public health is the science and art of protecting and promoting health in communities where we live, work, and learn. Federal investment in public health dates back to 1798 when Congress first authorized the Marine Hospital Service to deliver care to the merchant seamen who were disproportionately affected by disease. Today, the Public Health Service is led by the Office of the Secretary and comprised of 11 operating divisions—including the eight agencies authorized by the Public Health Service Act and three human services agencies.

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Theresa Nguyen, Senior Director of Policy and Programming, Mental Health America 

Depression is a personal experience, different for every individual. One thing many people share, however, is difficulty accessing care. As someone who personally struggles with depression, I understand this challenge all too well. Depression can be a debilitating experience, and in addition to dealing with the painful symptoms of the illness, our healthcare system makes it extremely burdensome to seek help.

For a person paralyzed by fatigue, lack of motivation, sadness, or other common symptoms of depression, concentrating on navigating the many barriers to care can feel impossible. Recently released research confirms this unfortunate state of affairs, and addresses the access issues that I and millions of others have experienced firsthand.

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Over the past several weeks, CFYM has exposed the problem of postpartum depression and offered solutions for improving the quality of maternal mental health care. This series, developed in collaboration with the National Network of Depression Centers, brought together the voices of women with lived experience, researchers, providers, advocates, and legislators to shine a light on maternal mental health—a topic usually hidden in the shadows.

In addition to exposing some startling facts around the lack of maternal mental health care, contributors also provided meaningful solutions that are effective both economically and from a wellness perspective. These programs provide training and expert consultation to health care providers and peer-to-peer support to assist moms and their families.

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Together We Can Change the Face of Maternal Mental Health Care
Joy Burkhard, MBA

Care for Your Mind acknowledges and appreciates the collaboration of the National Network of Depression Centers in developing this series.

At 2020 Mom, our name reflects one overarching goal: to close the gaps in maternal mental health (MMH) by the year 2020. Given what you’ve read in previous posts about the state of care, this may seem like an ambitious deadline, but we believe it is possible.

As a nonprofit maternal mental health advocacy organization, 2020 Mom is dedicated to offering tangible steps stakeholders can take to effect change. Since we launched in California in 2011, we’ve seen a groundswell begin to bubble up nationally. Providers, insurers, and health care systems are starting to recognize the magnitude of the gap in care when it comes to maternal mental health because of the work so many are doing.

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MA State Representative Ellen Story and U.S. Congresswoman Katherine Clark
with introductions by Dr. Nancy Byatt

Care for Your Mind acknowledges and appreciates the collaboration of the National Network of Depression Centers in developing this series.

Nancy Byatt: If we truly want to fix the state of perinatal mental health care in this country, a collaborative effort is essential. Achieving universal care will take the collective input of many different players – people with lived experience, providers, insurance companies, advocates, legislators, and more.

While every avenue of advancement is important, adopting legislation is a crucial piece of the puzzle; it’s the only way we can ensure pregnant and postpartum women get the care they need.

In Massachusetts, legislative efforts have been the foundation for the success of MCPAP for Moms. This is due in large part to MA Rep. Ellen Story, author of the 2010 Massachusetts Postpartum Depression legislation and co-chair of the Postpartum Depression (PPD) Commission. The Commission offers recommendations on PPD policy to the Massachusetts Departments of Public Health and Mental Health (MDPH and DMH), which in turn funds MCPAP for Moms. Representative Story has been instrumental in helping Massachusetts become a leader in the field of perinatal mental health care.

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Care for Your Mind acknowledges and appreciates the collaboration of the National Network of Depression Centers in developing this series.

Ann Smith, CNM, President, Postpartum Support International

For a woman suffering from perinatal depression, anxiety, or another mood disorder, there’s nothing scarier than feeling alone, abandoned, or without the help she so desperately needs.

I understand this issue all too well, because I had severe anxiety after giving birth to my second and third children. Unfortunately, there was little help available at the time. Those difficult experiences inspired me to make a lifelong commitment to the cause.

Now, I’m the president of Postpartum Support International (PSI), an organization dedicated to promoting awareness, prevention, and treatment of perinatal mental health issues. PSI offers a lifeline to moms in need in every state in the U.S. and across the globe.

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Care for Your Mind acknowledges and appreciates the collaboration of the National Network of Depression Centers in developing this series.

How MCPAP for Moms Offers a Lifeline to Providers and Women in Need
Nancy Byatt, D.O., M.S., M.B.A., F.A.P.M., with contributions by Jamie Belsito and Amanda Martin

With nearly 15% of pregnant or postpartum women suffering from depression and very few medical providers able to offer effective treatment, it’s clear there’s a serious gap in available care.

As we’ve discussed throughout this series, this is a national health crisis, and the answer, in short, is for the system to expand its capacity for care.

Through our work in Massachusetts, we’ve found that a centralized program allows us to easily increase the care that physicians are able to offer. Doing so simultaneously solves a major dilemma for providers, who have long felt frustrated at their inability to help mothers in need— and helps patients feel secure and supported. That’s the role the MCPAP for Moms (Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Project for Moms) has been filling since its inception last year.

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