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This week the Junior Leagues of California are celebrating the fact that May will be permanently designated "Perinatal Depression Awareness Month" in California. It was because of their hard work, led by the State Public Affairs Committee (SPAC) of the Junior Leagues of California, and that of California Assembly Member Pedro Nava (D-Santa Barbara), that ACR105 was passed with unanimous bipartisan support in both the Assembly and Senate.
"Many states, including New Jersey, Oregon, Washington and Iowa, have implemented robust education campaigns and treatment programs," said SPAC Co-Chair and Junior League of Los Angeles member Julie Elginer. "This is an important first step for California to increase awareness and reduce stigma associated with this condition."
The bill also requests that California's Departments of Health Care Services and Mental Health work together with NGOs and other stakeholders to explore ways to "improve women's access to mental health care, to facilitate increasing awareness of and education about perinatal depression and to encourage the use of prenatal screening tools."
SPAC will kick off the month with a Perinatal Depression awareness campaign entitled "Speak Up When You're Down", modeled after the one started years ago in New Jersey. The campaign includes hot pink and brown awareness ribbons and printed resources include posters and pocket cards. These materials can be ordered either from the Junior League of Los Angeles or the LA County Perinatal Mental Health Task Force, which also was involved in pushing this legislation.
Many congratulations to everyone involved! (Special thanks to BlogHer Sarah Granger for the work she did to get this passed!) California's pregnant and new mothers can only benefit from the increased attention on this common illness.
Katherine Stone Postpartum Progress http://www.postpartumprogress.com
