So it seems apt that the forces that be have finally convinced me that a blog is in order, and the weekend I decide to begin is just before Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week.  I will be posting thoughts and encouragement for a social media blitz to stamp out the stigma of maternal mental illness all this week, with ideas for how you can make a difference. Over the past eleven years (yes, 11!) that I have been working in the perinatal mental health field there has been much progress in the recognition of how prevalent postpartum depression really is. However, we have a long way to go.  We need to talk more about postpartum anxiety, and about how to spot trouble before it fully derails you, how to ask for help and keep asking even when you are not heard the first time.  I hope you will join me, and women all over the US over the next week, in ramping up this conversation as we move towards Mother’s Day at the end of the week. Let us share stories, pictures, and words of encouragement for those mamas who are reading but not posting, so they know they are not alone. To take the #RealMotherhood challenge, sign on below.

https://animoto.com/play/065uj0RySINSlGM9a1HpUw