Hundreds of mothers, along with their children and partners, gathered at Union Park on June 22 for the Postpartum Support International’s annual Climb event. The Utah Chapter of PSI joined with other chapters across the country and around the world on “the longest day of the year,” the traditional date for the Climb events on the first day of summer.

This was not a rock wall climbing activity, but it was focused on helping many mothers who face challenges before, during and after childbirth climb out of the despair they may feel.

“Our main goal is to raise awareness,” said Heather Dopp, a member of Utah Chapter board who handles media relations. “We work with maternal mental health during pregnancy, postpartum, and connect parents with resources around the valley and around the state.”

Though this was the 12th time the event has been held in Utah, Dopp said, “Utah’s is a pretty new chapter. It grows exponentially as we get more people and more providers trained—which is one of our big goals with PSI Utah. We teach about what medications are safe for breastfeeding and pregnancy. And this year, we are doing a paternal health training in October to talk about fatherhood and mental health in the reproductive years.”

Dopp said one in five mothers in the United States will develop some sort of perinatal mental illness. Typically, it’s called postpartum depression, but she said the reality is it’s a spectrum.

“It starts in pregnancy and we see it up to two years postpartum. It’s a big spectrum,” she said.

The Climb is a fundraising event, including a silent auction to raise funds so PSI can train more providers and get parents in touch with the right resources to help them connect with doulas, physical therapists, massage therapists, acupuncture and doctors who are trained for everything along the postpartum spectrum.

Anna Gabbott, the Climb leader, said the goal was to raise about $20,000. “There’s no rock climb—just a metaphorical climb out of the pits of depression…the dark places where you are,” she said. There were a number of booths set up at the park with service providers and community organizations designed to help mothers and their families.

Amy Rose White, a perinatal psychotherapist and licensed clinical social worker, started the chapter “when it was the Utah Maternal Mental Health Collaborative in 2015. We were just a stakeholders organization working to effect policy change, to improve the education, prevention, detection and treatment of all mental health and emotional health issues with childbearing women especially that first year after having a baby.”

She said the organization has grown from a gathering of 15-20 people in a room at the University of Utah Hospital to now hosting annual benefits and awareness events, social media, and doing a lot of policy work at the legislative level to bring awareness in public health domains and major hospitals. White said she suffered her own PTSD shortly after the birth of her first son, which pushed her into looking for resources that she couldn’t find at that time. 

You can find more information at www.postpartum.net. λ