A New Report: Catalyzing Mental Health Support for Moms Through Specialized Peer Support Training
A New Report: Catalyzing Mental Health Support for Moms Through Specialized Peer Support Training
Thursday, July 30, 2020
2:15 pm ET / 1:15 pm CT / 11:15 am PT
Maternal mental health disorders impact up to 1 in 5 women, yet most never receive a diagnosis or treatment and support. Certified peer support provided by trained peer specialists is a proven model for addressing mental health conditions.
Join us to discuss the findings from a peer support pilot exploring whether existing and evidence-based mental health certified peer specialist training could be leveraged to support women with maternal mental health disorders.
In this free, 60 minute webinar, we will discuss why certified peer specialists supporting maternal mental health will provide a much needed new frontier in care, including:
- Augmenting maternal mental health provider shortages,
- Offering women support in a manner that meets them where they are,
- Providing clinics and health systems who bill Medicaid an opportunity to integrate mental health peer support
- Provide women who have recovered (or managing chronic depression and anxiety) and are eager to ‘give back,’ a career opportunity
- Give support to those at risk and to those who are already suffering
Meet the Presenters
Aaron Foster, MA, LAC, CRC, CRSS is Recovery International’s Director of Recovery Practices and Consulting & Education. He also serves as the Director of Education for RI’s Licensed Private Vocational School in Phoenix AZ. He is Certified Recovery Support Specialist (2011), a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (2014) and a Licensed Associate Counselor (2017). Aaron is an advocate for the inclusion of peers in the mental health services field and collaborates with institutions of higher education to develop research to support the workforce development of peer support roles. Aaron continues to consult nationally on the efficacy of Peer Support and Recovery Education in the American integrated health system.
Joy Burkhard, MBA is the founder and executive director of 2020 Mom a non-profit social change organization aggressively working to close gaps in maternal mental health through education, awareness and advocacy. 2020 Mom’s projects include the brand’s Mom Congress and TheBlueDotProject. Mom Congress is a coalition of non-profit organizations and individual members working to improve birth and support of early motherhood, and TheBlueDotProject, a national awareness movement for maternal mental health which hosts the U.S.’s maternal mental health awareness week social media campaign. In addition to running 2020 Mom, Joy also works part-time for the insurer Cigna where she has spent nearly 25 years. She serves as a regulatory affairs leader and has a passion for quality improvement and innovation. Joy is a member of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology expert workgroup on Maternal Mental Health and the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, the nation’s first agency working to solve the U.S.’s maternal mortality crisis. She has been recognized for her leadership and vision with several awards, including receiving The American Public Health Association’s Maternal Child Health Leadership and Advocacy Award, California's American Mother of Achievement Award, the "Emerging Leader" award in women's health from the federal Health and Human Services Agency, Office of Women's Health and Cigna's Volunteer of the Year award. Joy lives with her husband and two elementary school-age children in Los Angeles, California.
Tonya Fulwilde is MHA Ohio’s Associate Director. Tonya oversees the Community Engagement, Education, Healthy Connections, Get Connected, and POEM programs. Tonya is a Certified Mental Health First Aid USA Instructor, and also teaches de-escalation, work-life balance, and perinatal mental health workshops. She is the co-founder of Perinatal Outreach and Encouragement for Moms (POEM), formerly a nonprofit organization now within MHAOhio’s umbrella of services. POEM is one of the largest and long-running programs of its kind in the US, and was the recipient of the 2017 Innovative Programs in Care Award from the Marcé Society of North America and 2020 Mom. Tonya is a Postpartum Support International (PSI) Founder’s award winner for her “outstanding contributions to related to emotional health and childbearing,” and is a co-author of PSI’s guidebook Developing a Sustainable Perinatal Support Network in Your Community. She is a graduate of The Ohio State University in Political Science and Communications.
Cindy Herrick a mom and fierce maternal mental health advocate with an interest in peer support and social media support and advocacy. Cindy is an experienced special education graduate instructor and conducted research at Arizona State University. She serves as 2020 Mom’s non profit and medical partner lead and runs The Blue Dot Project’s MMH week and suicide awareness campaigns. In 2019 Cindy became one of the first peers to be trained as a maternal mental health certified peer specialist.