Maternal Mental Health Month with Caitlin

 

Tell us about Maternal Mental Health Month
Maternal Mental Health Month is more than just 30 days fully dedicated to raising awareness about perinatal mental health. It is an opportunity for PSI to make a worldwide impact with the help of other organizations, providers, and survivors of perinatal mood disorders willing to share their knowledge, stories, experiences and most importantly, the resources that can support help-seekers in healing. This year, we want Maternal Mental Health Month to be a celebration of hope, help and healing.

Share with us how you landed on this year’s theme, healing starts with help.
With PPP Awareness Day also falling within May for Maternal Mental Health Month, the Healing Starts with Help Campaign was inspired by the outpour of help resources that were shared following the Lindsey Clancy tragedy. When it comes to perinatal mental health disorders, there is nothing more important than providing parents and help seekers with the help and support that they need. People want and need to know how and where to get help, and fast! The problem is, many people don’t know where or how to ask for help. As an organization, we have an imperative responsibility to create awareness about the availability of help resources so that we can help and support as many people and families as possible. After all, people want to feel better. They want to heal. With help, they can. The more we post these resources, the more awareness we can create and the more people we can help together
 
What does the social media team have planned?
We are excited to be launching PSI’s first-ever Maternal Mental Health Month Social Media Kit, which will be announced and available on social media and distributed via email hopefully on 4/15! The social media kit will include various items including social posts and captions for anyone to use to engage, participate and help spread awareness about Maternal Mental Health Month, the Healing Starts with Help campaign and available resources for help-seekers. The official launch date of the campaign is May 1, but we will have the media kit and posts about the Healing Starts with Help Campaign leading up to that date.
How can supporters get involved with the campaign?
Postpartum Support International will host an exclusive campaign for Maternal Mental Health Month 2023 in May, themed: Healing Starts With Help. Join us in helping us create awareness about the availability of perinatal mental health help, resources and support available for help seekers, their partners, parents, family members and friends. To get involved, you can share any of the content from our media kit or that we will be posting throughout Maternal Mental Health Month and/or create content using the campaign content strategy guide that we have outlined below.
Create videos/graphics that:

provide statistics/facts

offer tips/advice

resource details/information

provide survivor stories/experiences

encourage healing

Tag us at:

@PostpartumSupportInternational on Instagram, Linkedin, YouTube & Facebook

@PostpartumHelp on Twitter

Content can be created to explain:

How to ask for help (dialogue when talking to a therapist, doula, OBGYN, PCP, resource, hotline, peer support, support group, friend, family member, etc,)

Who to ask for help (what resources or professionals help seekers, family members and partners should reach out to; sharing that process)

What type of help exists (breaking down specific resources, organizations, providers, expert therapists and types of support like support groups

When to get help (risk factors/symptoms/warning signs)

Where to get help (different resources)

Why ask for help (what can be achieved from reaching out for help

Stories of Survivors using #IHealedWithHelp to include:

How they were struggling before they got help

When they decided to get help

Where or Who did they ask for help

What helped them

How they healed

Hashtags to use:

#HealingStartsWithHelp

#IHealedWithHelp (for stories)

Help Us Fundraise:

Promote direct donations to our website.

Host a Fundraiser on Instagram or Facebook.

If you are a small business owner, you can sell a product and have all or partial proceeds donated to PSI (tag us on Instagram)

Design a PSI t-shirt contest – info coming soon!

Volunteer to Be Interviewed/Featured on PSI’s Socials
We are also in need of content creators/influencers, perinatal mental health experts/professionals and organizations that are interested in being featured on our social media channels for Maternal Mental Health Month 2023 as part of our ‘Healing Starts with Help” Campaign. We need collaborations with contributors for special topic Q&As or social media/TikTok-style video interviews/recordings.
If you are interested in being featured on our channels or being part of creating awareness by volunteering to participate in our Healing Starts With Help campaign, please email Social Media Manager Caitlin Atkinson at socialmedia@postpartum.net.
Caitlin graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Relations and a minor in English in 2013. She is a mother to her daughter August.  She is also a PPA survivor, a seasoned marketing professional with 8+ years of experience and a niche in all things social media. She came to PSI in mid-2021 with a passion to use her expertise and knowledge to advocate for mothers/parents and help those in need by reaching and providing as much information about PSI’s resources and perinatal mental health support to as many people as possible.

 
“I am so honored and excited to be part of the growing impact PSI is making among the lives of so many people and parents. The work of PSI is not only amazing and inspiring, it is absolutely imperative to the well-being and survival of so many families, people and communities across the globe.”