“I would love if we all got annual mental health exams and screening. Just like we check on our physical health, we have lots of normal tests for that. And perinatal mental health care should be standard.”

“Our job is to always support families on their level. I encourage families to keep me in the loop if they're feeling particularly overwhelmed, because we can always make changes to [their feeding goals], versus waiting for overwhelming feelings to fester and lead to darker thoughts. I think the biggest thing is really to just make sure that families understand that their goals are their goals, and your baby's going to love you no matter what. And I'll shout it from the rooftops: support, support, support! Just having somebody in your corner to support you is so important.”

“The root of Aaliyah in Action was needing to find meaning for myself post-loss. The mental health impact that this takes is huge. In full transparency, I needed a reason to keep being here. At the time, I did not know anybody that had had a stillbirth. [A] lot of my friends and family had sent me little self-care items because that's very much who I am. I found that using one or two items each day literally allowed me to feel something, when I felt so numb. I just wanted to extend that to absolutely anybody that is going back home, going back to work, going back to a society that feels so different than before this life-changing news.”

“La necesidad de pañales es una lucha constante en nuestras comunidades, y necesitamos tener recursos disponibles para cuando las familias los necesiten… Si no hay pañales, los niños no pueden ir a la escuela o a la guardería, las familias no pueden ir a trabajar o buscar empleo. Yo quiero que las cosas sean más equitativas para todos.”

“Diaper need is a struggle in our communities, and we need things readily available for families when they need them. . . [N]ot having diapers, kids are not able to go to school or go to daycare, families are not able to work, or go out and find jobs. I want things to be more equal for everyone.”

“I believe in encouraging, empowering women, children, and families, especially during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Anyone I'm introduced to, I'm always making sure that they know about their body and the importance of who they are. That’s my calling, that’s how I serve families.”

“I feel like everything before I became a mom, it's just textbook. When I became a mom myself [I realized]: one, nothing is as easy as the textbook says; and two, it's such a lonely period. I have my husband, I have family coming to visit, but I don't know what I'm doing. I don't even know what I need help with!”

“I had my own stigma against what I was going through, and I had so much shame. Like, How can my brain fail me? How could I be in this position? Now I recognize it was biology and circumstances and it was not on me. Yes, there are signs, but this can happen to anyone.”

“The despair and the anxiety set in immediately, and it never lessened. It never got better for years. I never got treatment. I never had a six-week postpartum checkup; I didn't put myself in front of a doctor for three years. I was one of the ones who slipped through the cracks.”

“The experience of becoming a mother, pregnant and postpartum, is a holistic, environmental shift in your reality. It's not just hormones, it's everything. I would love for every woman to be pregnant and postpartum in a loving community. That she didn't have to ask for anything, that things were offered first.“

“I would say my dream for true equity and justice for Black birthing people is to have access to the economic means, social protections, and structural and living conditions to give birth, live, and sustain themselves, being free of all forms of harm, including violence, inequality, and coercion.

When you think of mental health, it's the cumulative experiences that build up over time, that devalue your body, your mind, and your needs. And it is reinforced by systems and individuals that perpetuate a belief that your needs do not matter as much. The vision of what it means to birth with joy, and to access care -- where health equity is an actual standard of care – is not our current reality. “

“My business partner Jamie and I worked as labor and delivery nurses at a Boston hospital, and we were always wondering, What is going on out there? It felt like this giant gap of all of this support and help in the hospital, and then, bam, they’re sending you down the elevator with your car seat, and you go home and nobody’s there! If you look at other countries, [postpartum support] is actually built into their health care models. I hope that through our NAPS programming, we can eventually reshape how we think about perinatal healthcare.”

“My goal and my vision is to have BIPOC be treated more equitably, and to be listened to, to actually be heard when they are delivering their babies. Far too often, your requests aren't heard, and you're treated like you don't know what you're talking about. It sets people up for failure and for traumatic experiences that have a domino effect in the postpartum period, and can lead to postpartum depression, anxiety, and other perinatal mood disorders.”

“We really need to expand the behavioral health workforce with particular attention to racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity so that people feel comfortable seeing their mental health provider. Mental health is often stigmatized in many places, cultures, and families, so it takes a lot for people to come forward with what they're struggling with, and they want to feel comfortable with the person who's sitting across from them.”

“To hold two things at the same time, this love and complete joy of having this precious baby, but also not being able to love myself the way that I believe is important, [which is] an ingredient in being a good parent – scratch that, a whole parent. My yoga teaching practice really focuses on embodiment, and being able to feel at home within ourselves. Particularly during postpartum and pregnancy, it’s a precious time to strive to embody ourselves.”

“I did survive, but it wasn't the result of any resilience or fight in me personally. It was a naturally occurring biological crisis that could hit anyone, and I was so amazingly fortunate to have seen the other side of it and had the resources that I did. But there's so much more we can do to build resources and help others survive it.”

“Our whole OB/GYN team is involved in the screening. And I know I can pick up the phone and Behavioral Health will respond to any of our patient concerns immediately – sometimes in that exact moment. Over the years we've really grown [our] services to be more preventative, coaching not only the patient, but the family, to be prepared that these are very common issues, and that we have services to help. It’s a priority for our health center.”

“For me, Queer people are some of the most intentional and thoughtful parents, because becoming a parent as a Queer person requires strength and creativity and adaptability. I also find that by nature of the process, Queer people really have to ask themselves questions about what makes a family, and the many ways to build a family. And I think this leaves space for respecting diverse kinship bonds, and really encourages community-building. There's been a lot of progress in the postpartum world about building your village, but one of the strengths of the Queer community is community-building.”

“Our vision is that all pregnant and postpartum people are educated about, screened for, and treated for mental health conditions. How we get there is through policy work. There are some days when I’m like, This is too big a problem. And then I think, You know what? Every mom who got help today was a mom who didn't get help yesterday. There is progress.”

“We view our work as investing in midwifery, reclaiming the legacy of Black midwives, and providing more options to our community. And it goes so much more beyond, you know, they have a healthy baby and they're healthy – all the mental and spiritual aspects are really important. They can feel supported, and that's part of their own body's healing process, and mental healing as well.”