APA Summer Webinar Series on Maternal Mental Health and Health Disparities to Continue

APA’s Division of Diversity and Health Equity is re-launching its summer webinar series focusing on mental health disparities and maternal mental health. The series will be introduced at APA’s 2024 Annual Meeting in May in a session on treating substance use disorders during pregnancy and will be followed by three webinars over the summer months.

The webinar series was initiated last year to offer reproductive health care professionals timely, relevant learning opportunities to improve maternal mental health equity, address the barriers to accessing maternal mental health support services, and provide tangible tools to support informed clinical decisions. The series brought together interdisciplinary experts in perinatal mental health, reproductive health, research, and patients with lived experience.

“The APA Maternal Mental Health Series provides psychiatrists with tangible practical strategies on how to identify at-risk populations and how to provide culturally sensitive and competent care,” said adult and perinatal psychiatrist Linda Ojo, M.D., M.P.H. This is especially important when it comes to maternal mental health "because there can be a tendency for physicians to reduce a pregnant patient to a birthing vessel and unintentionally disregard the fact that mental health is as important as [general physical health],” she told Psychiatric News. “The impact of this is even more so apparent among communities of color, where the stigma around mental health is already a major obstacle to those seeking care.”

Ojo is a staff psychiatrist with Columbia Associates in Adlie, Va., and was a participant in last year’s series.

In keeping with the presidential theme of Petros Levounis, M.D., M.A., on addiction, topics addressed in this year’s webinar series include substance use disorders during pregnancy. “Additionally, a panel that examines the impact of chronic and cumulative stress on health outcomes picks up where last summer’s conversation ended, by bringing the discussion of race to the forefront in a thoughtful and purposeful way,” Ojo said.

Addressing meeting attendees, Ojo said, “Whether you are a general psychiatrist or specialist who focuses on maternal mental health, I expect these interactive conversations to not only expand knowledge and understanding of these topics, but also provide the tools to apply this knowledge to your own clinical practice.”

Last summer’s series can still be accessed online:

• Postpartum Psychosis: Are Birthing People of Color Falling Through the Treatment Gap?

• Moore Equity in Mental Health Round Table: "Birth Related Maternal Death: The Mental Health Impact on Families

• Addressing Gaps in Comprehensive Treatment for Birthing People of Color with Comorbid SUD: Implementing a Targeted Approach

• Birthing People of Color Who May Be Reluctant to Start Psychopharmacological Treatment: How to Navigate This Challenge

• A Conversation on the Current Maternal Mental Health Screening Tools: Are They Culturally Appropriate? ■