Australia’s Minister of Mental Health Mark Butler recently launched a new set of free beyondblue information resources aimed at primary care health professionals, including maternal, child and family health nurses, to help them detect and discuss perinatal depression, anxiety and other mental health problems with pregnant women and new mothers.
beyondblue CEO Kate Carnell said: “Health professionals are asking for reliable and accessible information and training on mental health disorders during the perinatal period. There are many health professionals in this field who are at the frontline and are in a good position to recognise and respond to women presenting with depression and anxiety, and we rely on them to refer these women to their GPs for treatment.”
The new resources, which provide health professionals with information about perinatal depression, complement a free, accredited online training program which is also based on the Guidelines and which almost 2,500 health professionals are undertaking to improve their ability to recognise, treat and manage these conditions in pregnant women and new mothers
