Strong Start Day 2012: How You Can Be a PPD Warrior

Today is National Strong Start Day. An annual day set aside to inform, spread the word, and gather funds for Post Partum Depression Mood Disorders.
 
Fifteen to 20% of all new mothers get postpartum depression or anxiety, nearly a million each year in the US alone. Only a small percentage of women with PPD ever get the treatment they need to fully recover.

I try to do my best in recognizing and being alert to a mom in the midst of PPD illness. I myself never recognized just how desperate I was with my PPD until I had run out of rope to hang on to.

 I don't want this for anyone, not if I can help in some way.

Spreading awareness of postpartum depression is work, time, dedication, commitment, and belief in the power of support and community. Working hard costs time, and money: but it's time and money spent in making sure and seeking out as many pregnant and new mothers as possible. To do this, we need to recognize the symptoms of PPD mood disorders, and we can do this by knowing what we're looking for first.

At the same time, we need to preach acceptance, and not judging; and most importantly, assuring these women that they are not alone. There are places to go for help, and there are ways to ask for help. As much as we can, even if it feels small to us--believe me--to someone surviving one minute to the next, it means a world of difference.

All mothers and their children deserve a strong start and access to information and resources in the fight against postpartum mood disorders.

We need your help to continue to do that. And to do even more. Our goal for Postpartum Progress in 2013 is to translate what we have done so successfully online into offline materials, the kind that clinicians continually ask us for so that they can share them with their patients. Today, on October 5th — the day on which more children are born each year than any other — please donate (click and see how easy it is to give), and if you can, ask others to do the same.

Thank you so much for reading, for caring. If you ever have the chance to extend a hand to someone who is drowning and can't find their way up for air, please do it. It's called saving a life for a reason.

**IF YOU KNOW OF SOMEONE WITH PPD RIGHT NOW: please direct them to Katherine Stone's website, PostPartumProgress. It's the best place for them to begin to feel part of a community. Community and support are the biggest predictors of a successful recovery from PPD. 

To donate with a credit card:

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