The warning signs show up before the crisis does, if you know where to look.
Presented by Breea Wainwright, LMFT, PMH-C, this session explores how untreated perinatal mental health conditions shape outcomes well into the postpartum period, often earlier than providers expect. By the time symptoms are obvious, a mother may have been struggling for months.
Thursday, July 23, 2026, 1:00 PM PST, $25 per provider
Postpartum mental health challenges rarely appear out of nowhere. In most cases, they're the continuation and intensification of symptoms that were present during pregnancy but never named, never screened for, or dismissed as "just pregnancy." Prenatal depression is one of the strongest predictors of postpartum depression, and the window to interrupt that chain is earlier than most providers and families realize.
This session walks through how prenatal distress escalates into postpartum crisis, the risk factors Black women disproportionately carry (including the Superwoman Schema and weathering), and why medical mistrust and racial trauma shape whether a woman discloses what she's actually feeling. You'll also get practical tools: what meaningful screening sounds like versus a checkbox, how to shift a clinical encounter with a single well-placed question, and what a genuine warm handoff looks like compared to a referral list.
This session is designed for both birthing people and the providers who serve them, so expect content that speaks to your clinical practice and content you can hand directly to patients and families.
You'll leave with:
An understanding of how perinatal symptoms escalate from pregnancy into the postpartum period
Tools to recognize early warning signs, in patients and in yourself
Language for screening and disclosure conversations that build safety instead of shutting them down
Practical strategies for early identification and intervention, before symptoms become a crisis
A resource directory for care, for mamas and for providers
Expect discussion prompts, reflection, and space to talk through where the missed opportunities are in your own practice or community.