Maternal Mental Health Day 2021: #TimeForAction

The Ludmer Centre has partnered with the Canadian Perinatal Mental Health Collaborative to bring you the virtual symposium: Strategic Approaches To Perinatal Mental Health Care in Canada. The symposium will take place on May 5th, 2021, World Maternal Mental Health Day and is open to clinicians, researchers, advocates, government, and members of the general public. Part 1 will make the case for advancing perinatal mental health in Canada, and Part 2 will focus on standards of care and how these play out at the global, national, provincial and local levels.

PROGRAMMING & SCHEDULE Part 1: Advancing the issue of perinatal mental health (10:30am-12pm EST)

The Canadian Perinatal Mental Health Collaborative will discuss the results of Canada’s first-ever study and survey for health care practitioners on perinatal mental health care. In Canada, an estimated 20% of women experience perinatal mental illness. Rates have been elevated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Services currently available to those experiencing perinatal mental illness in Canada are largely inadequate and issues are magnified during COVID-19. Hear why the survey findings underscore a critical need for a national perinatal mental health strategy to address gaps in screening and treatment.

Part 2 - Advancing standards of care: from global to local (12:30-2:00pm EST)

Speakers Alain Gregoire (Global Maternal Mental Health Alliance) and Simone Vigod (Women’s College Hospital) will start the conversation about best practices in perinatal mental health care and current gaps in care for underserved communities: fathers and nonmaternal caregivers, indigenous maternal & infant health and wellbeing, and whole-family care for marginalized communities.