Lifeline for Moms

At Lifeline for Moms, we promote perinatal mental health by helping develop, implement, innovate, evaluate, and sustain approaches for addressing perinatal mental health and substance use disorders. Our perinatal psychiatry trainings, services, and resources aim to increase access to and engagement in mental health care. 

Our core services are as follows: 

Capacity building: We promote perinatal health care by building healthcare professionals’ capacity to provide perinatal mental health support, services, and interventions. Our evidence-based, customizable products and resources are free and help clinicians prevent, identify, and treat perinatal mental health conditions.

Consultation: We offer consulting services to support perinatal care professionals as they develop their own Perinatal Psychiatry Access Program or integrate care for perinatal mental health and substance use disorders into their practice workflow.

Research: We develop and test interventions and resources designed to improve existing care models and close remaining gaps in care. Many of these perinatal mental health trainings, toolkits, and digital apps have been disseminated and implemented across the U.S. and the world.

Major Accomplishments:

We developed and lead MCPAP for Moms, an internationally recognized statewide mental health service delivery approach that improves treatment rates and outcomes for perinatal mental health and substance use disorders. Started in 2014, MCPAP for Moms has served over 16,500 perinatal individuals in Massachusetts and has become a national model for perinatal mental health care, inspiring federal and state-level funding for additional Perinatal Psychiatry Access Programs across the US.

We developed and lead the Lifeline for Moms National Network of Perinatal Psychiatry Access Programs. There are now 24 funded and operational Perinatal Psychiatry Access Programs in 21 US states with the potential to cover nearly 54% of the 3.7 million US births each year, in addition to two programs available across the US and one Ottawa-based program.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists now disseminates our practice-level approach for helping obstetric practices detect, assess, and treat perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.

Visit the Lifeline for Moms Website