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Health and Human Services

Maternal and Infant Mental Health

Perinatal Connections Project: Perinatal Depression

In response to the need to address perinatal depression as a public health issue, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health has initiated the Perinatal Connections Project; a Project funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau.  The Project aims to increase awareness and decrease stigma associated with perinatal depression and increase access to appropriate mental health services for women and their families. 

The Perinatal Connections Project selected four communities to pilot an innovative, replicable and sustainable program to enhance the detection and management of women’s experiences with perinatal depression in these communities.  The communities include Cambridge/Somerville, Lowell, Fitchburg and Springfield.  These communities were chosen for the diversity of the population they serve and characteristics of the population that indicate there may be more women experiencing perinatal depression compared to the rest of the state.

Massachusetts Maternal and Infant Mental Health Project

In extension of the Perinatal Connections Project the MA Maternal and Infant Mental Health Project (MMIMHP) looks to continue the goal of improving maternal well being and mental health, through early detection, prevention, and treatment with an additional emphasis on infant mental health, primarily on the mother-infant dyad.

The MMIMHP will focus on improving access to appropriate and effective maternal and infant mental health services for vulnerable populations within the target communities while enhancing the capacity of maternal and infant health care providers statewide to support positive parent-infant interactions. The Project will also look to identify the scope of maternal and infant mental health issues within Massachusetts in order to identify gaps and disparities and to promote effective evidence-based models of service delivery. Finally, the Project will enhance the capacity of both statewide and community based comprehensive and multidisciplinary partnerships of maternal and infant service providers to strengthen mental health services for pregnant and parenting women and their infants

Awareness Campaign Materials

In efforts to promote the destigmatization of depression in the perinatal period the Perinatal Connections Project launched an awareness campaign through the use of brochures, posters, and magnets. The awareness campaign materials are geared for those with lower literacy levels and are available in the following languages; English, Spanish, Portuguese, Khmer, Vietnamese, and French (Haitian). The brochures and posters are available in PDF and RTF format on this website in both color and gray scale. (Unfortunately the Khmer and Vietnamese materials are not available in RTF). Please direct questions regarding the awareness campaign materials, in both on-line and hard copy formats to the contact information below.

Brochures

Posters


Contact Information

Claudia Catalano
Department of Public Health
250 Washington Street
Boston, MA 02108
Telephone:617-624-5976
Email

This information is provided by the Division for Perinatal, Early Childhood, and Special Health Needs within the Department of Public Health.