Institute for Community Living (ICL)
ObservSMART - Incidents Aren't Invevitable... They're Preventable

Posts Tagged ‘support’

Collaborating for Change: Building a Stronger System of Maternal Mental Health Support in New York

Effectively addressing maternal mental health requires a comprehensive public health solution that targets risk and protective factors. These include social determinants of health, clinical care, community support, culturally responsive interventions, and policy changes. This is why the New York...

Voices of Hope and Healing: Parental Mental Health Peer Support Program for New York Families

Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, including postpartum depression (PMADs), are the most frequent complication related to childbearing and a leading cause of maternal mortality in New York State.1 PMADs affect up to 20% of birthing persons and new mothers. Also, up to 13% of fathers may...

Beyond the Baby Blues: Understanding the Impact of Codependency in Maternal Mental Health

Have you ever found yourself lying awake at night wondering if you're doing enough as a mother, even after giving everything you had that day? Do you constantly second-guess your parenting decisions, compare yourself to other moms, or feel like you're falling short, no matter how hard you...

The Role of Partners in Supporting Mothers with Postpartum Depression

Postpartum depression (PPD) is classified by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) as a major depressive disorder with peripartum onset. It is characterized by persistent sadness, anxiety, fatigue, and difficulties in emotional bonding with the newborn....

Generations of Motherhood: How Mental Health Changes Over Time

One in five mothers is affected by a mental health condition, and 75% of women impacted by maternal mental health conditions remain untreated, increasing the risk of long-term negative impacts on mothers, babies, and families. 1 The effects aren’t just heartbreaking; they’re far-reaching. When...

The Generational Transmission of Untreated or Unresolved Relational Trauma

She leaned in close to me, whispering as if we were girlfriends rather than therapist and client: “I’m trying to get pregnant because then I’ll have someone who will love me forever and never leave me.” How do I, as a compassionate therapist, gently explain to this 13-year-old girl that...

The Silent Struggles of Fertility: Understanding the Emotional Toll

When a woman embarks on the journey of fertility care, she enters a world filled with hope, uncertainty, and an emotional burden not always perceptible to others. The medical procedures and clinical visits are only part of the experience—behind closed doors, many face silent struggles that take a...

Supporting Maternal Mental Health and Reducing Stigma: A Clinical Perspective

Becoming a mother is a beautiful and rewarding experience, but it comes with a set of challenges that often go unrecognized. Maternal mental health is a critical dimension of perinatal care that is often overlooked amid the focus on the physical aspect of pregnancy.  During the perinatal period,...

No One Forgotten: Sharing Love with Hospitalized Mental Health Patients

The psych ward can be an unbearably lonely place. We’re often alone with our thoughts and reflections on relapses, struggles, disappointments, and hopelessness. I know. I’ve been there. I’ve suffered from severe bipolar I disorder with psychosis for over 25 years. Mental health crises landed...

The Super Mom Myth: Why Resilience Alone Is Not Enough

The baby’s cry pierces the morning silence. The coffee's gone cold. It’s 6:30 in the morning. Lilly stands in her kitchen, making breakfast. One hand is stirring her oatmeal, while her other hand scrolls through the work messages she has to deal with. A cartoon is playing in the background to...