The agency chosen for this essay is Postpartum Support International (PSI). Jane Honikam created this support group in 1987 with its headquarters in Portland, Oregon. The organizations raise professional and public consciousness regarding the emotional transformations many women undergo throughout pregnancy and after birth. According to PSI, around 15% of women experience postpartum depression following childbirth (PSI, 2021a). Throughout pregnancy, approximately 10% of women face anxiety or depression. PSI focuses on women during pregnancy and after childbirth (PSI, 2021a). PSI’s mission is to raise awareness, prevent, and treat mental health problems associated with pregnancy, childbirth, and child loss (PSI, 2021a). The organization believes it has to offer women social support, knowledge access, and competent medical care to address mental health challenges following childbirth (PSI, 2021a). PSI fosters this goal via cooperation, advocacy, training, and educating professionals and the general population.
PSI is a non-profit organization that depends on contributions, donations, sponsorships, grants, and campaigns; for example, PSI Climb Out of the Darkness to run its activities (PSI, 2021b). Every dollar contributed is directed to services and programs that educate and support women, their families, healthcare workers and enhance women’s health care via advocacy and research (PSI, 2021b). Among the mentioned funding sources, the main funding sources for Postpartum Support International are donations and sponsorships.
Postpartum Support International has a robust organizational structure, including an executive director, board of directors, coordinators, state chapters, advisory council, and faculty trainers. The organization has a paid staff, such as the executive director, and offers volunteer positions (PSI, 2021c). The agency has volunteer positions whose major responsibility is to provide resources and information to mothers, families, social support groups, and fathers to assist them in recovering from stress related to pregnancy and childbirth. Additionally, each department has its assigned duty within the organization, which the executive director oversees with the help of four part-time employees. The organization’s leadership reflects its target audience since members come from different backgrounds such as social work, nursing, education, advocacy, and law. Besides, most of the leaders in PSI are women from diverse cultures, which contemplates their mission of helping women (Davis et al., 2018). Women find it conducive to interacting with organizations headed with fellow women, contributing to the growth and relevance of PSI.
Postpartum Support International collaborates with various groups in delivering their services to women. For example, they partner with learning organizations, Pearson, to administer evaluation and education for their staff (PSI, 2021d). Additionally, they partner with healthcare organizations, community resource centers, and professionals who focus on women’s health (PSI, 2021f). PSI has partnered with various mental health organizations that do extensive research regarding perinatal mood disorders, such as the National Institute of Mental Health’s Outreach Partnership Program and the World Federation for Mental Health (Wong et al., 2020). PSI collaborations have successfully enabled them to take a prominent position in social lobbying for childbearing women’s mental health.
Based on the history of PSI and what they currently do, collaborating with them can prove fruitful in raising awareness for African-American women. PSI staff is comprehensive and comprises African-American women who can enhance interaction (PSI, 2021c). The range of services they offer, for example, education and training, can equip our team with advanced knowledge in handling our target population. The collaboration between PSI and our team can be fruitful because the team can direct them to our target population, meaning that PSI can develop programs focusing on reducing postpartum depression among African-American women.
References
Davis, W. N., Raines, C., Indman, P., Meyer, B. G., & Smith, A. (2018). History and purpose of postpartum support international. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing, 47(1), 75-83.
Postpartum Support International. (2021a). About Us. Postpartum Support International.
Postpartum Support International. (2021b). Donate. Postpartum Support International.
Postpartum Support International. (2021c). Postpartum Support International. Staff.
Postpartum Support International. (2021d). Professionals. Postpartum Support International.
Postpartum Support International. (2021e).
Postpartum Support International. (2021f). Community Engagement Grants. Postpartum Support International.
Wong, G., & George Parnham, J. D. (Eds.). (2020). Infanticide and Filicide: Foundations in Maternal Mental Health Forensics. American Psychiatric Pub.